Power Rangers GPX REBOOT, Part 1
by DChan87
Summary: Humanity is in trouble. Someone is preparing to attack. In the midst of all this, five young adults come to Tokyo for an internship opportunity. But what looks mundane may be the most fantastic and intense moment in their young lives. They have no idea of what comes next. A different look at the GPX Universe had the GPX Rangers fought a different enemy.
1. Start Your Engines, Part 1

Power Rangers GPX, episode 1: Start Your Engines, Part 1

:-:-:-: _We're the best damn chance you got, _:-:-:-:_  
__Pow-wer Rang-gers G-P-X, let's go!_

_Start your engines, lift the green flag high  
We're taking the lead, we're here to save the day  
Stare our enemies down, our victory is nigh  
There's a battle to fight, WE'RE NEVER GIVING UP!_

_Stand up, take your chance, we're here and will unite  
We're ready, and we're gonna take them down  
They can't beat us, we're united in our fight  
We're invincible, and we're never gonna die!_

_STAND UP AND FIGHT!  
We're the defenders of the human race,  
Power Rangers G-P-X, GO!  
STAND UP AND FIGHT!  
We're never gonna lose the race,  
Power Rangers G-P-X, GO!_

_We're gonna save the day,  
We're gonna save the day,  
We're gonna save the day!  
FUCK YOU BAD GUYS!  
_

:-:-:-:_ POWER RANGERS GPX, GO!_ :-:-:-:

A lone sergeant walked through the halls of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. He carried with him a briefcase, and that was it. He was trying to find where his superior was. There was urgency about the place as the people, mostly military, scurried through the halls. Something had gone down recently. The sergeant, Sgt. Steven J. Grant, found the room where the man he was looking for was. He was in a meeting with several top officers of the United States Army. "Col. Greene, sir," said the Sergeant, saluting his superior.

"What is it?" The colonel asked. He was an African-American man in his 40s. His face was slender and his eyes showed his worry about the situation at hand. His suit was decorated with lapels, all of them military awards. He did not have his hat on, as he was in a meeting with other top officers.

"Sir," said the Sergeant. His tone was desperate, as if he was worried about the situation. "They're preparing for attack."

Colonel Alan Greene, a veteran of 17 years in the United States Army, sighed. He looked at the other officers in the room, all of them being of higher rank than him. One of them, a General, nodded his head. "Begin the Operations," said Col. Greene. "I want the operatives in Tokyo in one month at least. I'll be going to Tokyo myself to oversee operations."

"Yes sir!" The sergeant replied. "By the way, have you decided yet?"

"Of course," said Col. Greene. "I decided some time ago. The operatives will be sent their messages and they should arrive there in four-to-six weeks."

"Yes, sir!"

"All right then," said Col. Greene. "I assume there won't be any problems for the operatives to get to Tokyo?

"No sir there won't be any problems."

"Good," said Col. Greene. "You're dismissed, Sergeant."

"Yes sir," said the sergeant. He left the briefcase on the table for the Colonel. The Colonel opened the briefcase and looked over its contents, several files of information regarding the 'operatives'.

"This 'Project' of yours better be successful," said one General.

"It will," said Col. Greene. "The operatives are among the best that we trained, so we know what they're capable of."

"I hope you're right," said the General. "I just hope the people who submitted it weren't crackpots."

"They weren't sir," said Col. Greene. "I assure you, the Project will be a success."

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

_Friday, May 21st, 2010, Narita International Airport, Narita, Chiba, Japan_

Two travelers stepped off an international flight from Los Angeles into the gate at Narita Airport in Nairta, in the Chiba prefecture of Japan. Neither one was Japanese, both of them of European extraction. One of them had on a green track jacket while the other was also wearing a green suede jacket. The one wearing the green track jacket wore a Chicago Blackhawks hat, indicating he might be from the previously mentioned Midwestern city. The one in the track jacket looked 21, the other looked 24.

"Well, we're here," said the one on the right, with an American accent.

"It's about time!" The other one said in an Irish brogue. "I'm gonna have neck cramps for the next week that took so long!"

"We just came from LA," said the American. "It's not that bad."

"Especially after the visa issues," said the Irishman.

"Tell me about it," said the American. "Stupid vaccines. So this is Tokyo."

"Well, not exactly Tokyo," said the Irishman. "We're in the Chiba prefecture." The Irishman was also a bit bigger than the American, who looked like a baseball player. But so did the Irishman.

"I guess it's a beginner's mistake," said the American. He took off his hat and ran his hand through his finger-length hair. "So we came all this way with barely any knowledge of Japanese for an internship. This better be good."

At the same time, in a different gate, a young woman, also around the age of 20, stepped off her flight. She was not like the two young men who stepped off the plane; instead she seemed to be of South American extraction instead, with brown hair going down to her shoulder. She appeared to be about 5 feet and 5 inches tall, somewhat normal. She looked around the gate for a few seconds before picking up her bag and departing for customs.

At the same time, but not at the airport, two people, a young man around the age of 21, and a young woman around the age of 18 rode on a bullet train into the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo. The two were were native Japanese, coming inbound from Kyoto. The girl was looking out the window, while the young man read a book; an actual book, not a manga.

"We'll be arriving at our destination pretty soon, Miyazawa-han," pair's bodyguard said in Japanese.

"Thank you, Toji-san," said the young man. He looked at the girl on the train with him. She was still looking out the window, not because she was ignoring him, but because of the long train ride from their home in Kyoto. The young man simply let her be and went back to reading.

"Come on, let us in the country!" The American featured in the previous scene at shouted at the customs official.

"I'm not done looking at your passports!" The old customs official as he slowly looked over the passport.

"Irish customs is much better than this," the American said to his Irish co-traveler.

"You are Sean O' Callahan, right?" The customs official asked.

"That's me," said the American—I mean, Sean. "Are you going to let me in?"

"First, I need to check if that's who you really are," said the official. Sean let out a sigh of exasperation and banged his head on the counter. "Let's see here," said the official. "Brown hair... check. Brown eyes," Sean looked at the official. "Check. Okay..."

"I've never seen a customs official do this," said the co-traveler.

"Okay then!" The official said. "Your passports have been approved." Sean looked up at the official. "Sean O' Callahan, here's your American passport and Kevin O' Donner..."

"Yes?" Kevin asked. "And it's pronounced, 'O'Donnell."

"Are you two cousins?" said the official.

"What? No!" said Sean.

"We're not even related," said Kevin. "We're friends."

"Oh, okay," said the official. "I was wondering why he had a United States passport and he had an Irish—"

"GIVE US THE DAMN PASSPORTS!" Sean yelled. But then he realized he was in customs at an airport and it's quite possible a few kids might have heard him. "Heh, heh, sorry," he said. He felt like an idiot, and so did Kevin. When they were able to leave customs, they immediately went to the baggage claim to pick up their bags from the flight. It took a while, but Sean and Kevin were able to find their bags.

Meanwhile, the young lady, Maria Aparicio, was having less difficulty with her passport, which the official had no problems with. "No, I'm indifferent towards Hugo Chavez," she said to the curious official who had been examining her Venezuelan passport. She proceeded to the baggage claim as well, and it also took her a while to get her luggage, but she got it as well. After that, she went outside to the pick-up area where she saw two young men—Sean and Kevin—discussing which hotel they were going to.

"I think it's this one," said Sean.

"No, it's that one," said Kevin.

"The Hilton? No, I think it's the Prince Sakura Tower," said Sean.

"No, it's the Shinjuku Prince Hotel," said Kevin.

"_Hola," _she said to them both. They turned around in surprise.

"Um... hi," said Sean, blushing at how good looking Maria was. "What is it?"

"I might be able to help," she said. "May I see it?" She asked, regarding the piece of paper they were looking at. She looked it over and said, "I believe it is the Prince Park Tower."

"Isn't that the one near the Tokyo Tower?" Kevin asked.

"Yes, it is," she said.

"How do you know that?" Sean asked her.

"Because I looked it up on the internet," she replied.

"Duh," Sean said to himself.

"But I'm also staying there," she said.

"You are?" Sean asked. He looked at Kevin and said, "Hey, why don't ask her if she wants a ride?"

"Why?" Kevin said with a bit of suspicion on his tone.

"Why not?" Sean replied. "She's going to the same hotel we are, so we might as well kill two birds with one stone!" Kevin thought about it for a minute and then said,

"_Senorita,_why don't you ride with us? We won't do anything to you, just so you know, but it's just for convenience."

Maria thought about it for a few moments before saying, "Sure, why not? I'll ride with you."

_"_All righty then!" Sean exclaimed. "Let's go, shall we? I think I see our car."

A few minutes later, the trio was in the car that would take them from the airport to the hotel in the Minato ward of the 23 Special Wards. It was a limo, which was something neither of them was used to, so they were all conversing with each other in the car. "So let me get this straight: you two are friends?" She asked. "But Sean, you're American and Kevin, you're Irish. How did you—"

"My dad was born in Dublin and he used to take me there sometimes," said Sean. "Kev's dad was an old friend of my dad's and so we became friends, as well."

"Okay, nice life story," she said.

"Yeah," Kevin said. "So now we're going to ask you where you're from."

"I will, but Sean will need to tell me where he's from too," said Maria. "I know Kevin is from Dublin, but what about you, Sean?"

"Me?" Sean asked. "I'm from Chicago, Illinois. Now you answer the question."

"I'm from Caracas," she said.

"Where is that?" A very confused Sean asked. Really, he shouldn't have been and Maria seemed justifiably upset at his question.

"It's in Venezuela!" Maria angrily shouted. "It's only the capital of the blasted country!"

"Oh, sorry," said Sean. "What's it like? I've never been there."

"It's not too bad," she said. "There are some nasty slums, but the area I'm from what is essentially one of the middle-class areas of the city, so my family's pretty well-off."

"Cool," said Sean.

"So what are you doing in Japan?" She asked the both of them. "You don't look like anyone who would come to Japan for no reason."

"I'm coming here because I got an invite for an internship with the Miyazawa Group," said Sean.

"Same here," said Kevin.

"So did I," said Maria. "Wow, talk about coincidence, huh?"

"Yeah, I'd say so," said Sean. "So, what do you like to do, Maria?"

"I do yoga and meditation," she replied, "And Brazilian Jiu-jistu."

"Really?" Sean asked. "I think we have something in common, especially with the martial arts." Kevin silently laughed, as he realized Sean was hitting on Maria.

"We do?" asked Maria. "How?"

"Well, I've been taking karate since I was ten," said Sean. "I'm not even sure why I had to do that stuff, I was mainly focusing on hockey."

"Yep," said Sean, "Shotokan style."

"The Irish Defense Forces don't have anything like that," said Kevin. "But I took Jeet Kun Do and I also do MMA on the side."

"Really? That's amazing!" said Maria.

"So I guess we've all got a connection here," said Sean. "We're martial artists."

"Is that why you've been fighting those robots that have appeared lately?" Kevin asked

"Those things?" Sean asked. "I don't know, maybe. I can't be too sure what they are, but they're just annoying little tin men, I can take 'em easily."

"Cocky one, aren't we?" Maria asked.

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX :-:-:-:

"So they're all here?" Col. Greene asked.

"Yes sir," said a soldier. "They're on their way to the city now."

"What about the others?" Col Greene asked.

"They're in the city right now," said the soldier. "They've just checked into the Prince Park Tower Hotel in the Minato Ward."

"Alright then," said the Colonel. "Have the invitations sent out once the other three check in, they should receive them tomorrow."

"Yes sir."

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

Tokyo amazed the three travelers. The twisted steel, combined with possibly postmodern, ancient and traditional Japanese architecture blended perfectly together in a seamless patchwork of 23 Special Wards that made up the Tokyo Metropolis. It was late afternoon, so the sun was beginning to set a little.

At the same time, people filled the sidewalks like a river, even on the crosswalk. Just imagine their amazement when they saw the crosswalk outside of Shibuya station! The neon signs, although they were not lit, were also adding to the experience, which Sean noted that Tokyo pulled the neon thing off better than his hometown of Chicago.

As any traveler who was just getting used to his new location, they were completely dumbstruck at the majesty of the place. The natives, of course, being used to this, simply went about their business. Anyways, it's _extremely_ difficult to describe Tokyo. It's just... Tokyo. So we'll get back to the main story.

Sean, Kevin and Maria were still in the car, which was still in Minato when Sean caught something in his peripheral vision. "Hey, what is that?" He said, pointing at it. Kevin and Maria looked out the window, which was on the passenger's side (the left side of the car) and saw what looked to be...

"Robots!" Maria exclaimed.

"Looks like the ones that have been causing trouble," said Kevin.

"Let's take 'em," said Sean with a look that clearly said he was itching for a fight.

"Sean, what are you _doing_?" Kevin asked, trying to stop him.

"What does it look like?" Sean asked. "I'm gonna take 'em! Stop the car!" The driver stopped the car and Sean got out of the car to the protests of the Kevin and Maria. Kevin, knowing what he had to do, apologized to Maria and jumped out of the car, while telling the driver to stay put.

The ten robots advanced on the girls. Kaede, Hikaru and Kagome were scared to death. These robots were everywhere, it seemed! They could have defended themselves if they knew how to fight robots, but they didn't even know any martial art at all.

They were like sleek, walking suits of armor. They had no face, it just looked like a knight's helmet but a pair of menacing red eyes glowed from the slit at the eyes. Their gaits were slow and mechanical, but it just made things worse for all of the girls. Their only weapons were short staffs with blades at the end containing a blue gem.

"Are we going to die?" Keade asked with terror on her voice.

"I don't know," said Hikaru.

"Please let someone come to our aid!" Kagome shouted. They had heard stories of these merciless robots that seemed to come from nowhere to attack people. Where had they come from?

"We should run," said Kaede. The other two girls heard Kaede's suggestion, but couldn't do it.

"I'm too scared," said Kagome. "I can't!"

"Will somebody help us?" Hikaru called out to the world. But no one seemed to answer. All seemed lost for the trio of friends. The robots continued to advance on the trio, drawing their weapons, their mechanical noise scaring them even further. The leader's eyes glowed red, which scared the trio even more. It looked as though the girls would meet their end, when suddenly-

"Hey machine heads!" A call came from behind the robots. The robots stopped advancing on the girls and turned around to see two young men standing at the end of the alley. The one on the right was wearing a green track jacket and a baseball cap with his arms crossed, while the one on the left was also wearing a track jacket, but was not wearing a ball cap. "You do realize it's not nice to hurt anyone, especially girls?"

The robots simply began preparing to attack them. The one on the right, who was slightly bigger than Sean, cracked his knuckles, while Sean simply stood there. The robots changed their targets for the two at the end of the alley and advanced on them, this time much more quickly.

Sean and Kevin got into fighting stances, Sean in a southpaw, Kevin in an orthodox stance. The robots got closer, this time running at them, when Sean, in a perfectly time manner, brought his right leg up and delivered a swift and powerful roundhouse kick to the lead robot's head, then twisting around and delivering a reverse roundhouse kick to a different bot, knocking the both of them away and out of commission, with a loud and powerful _kiai. _After that, Sean got back into his fighting stance. The other robots had stopped after the leader and another one got hit. "Come on, who wants some!?" Sean asked. The robots attacked, and the fight was on.

In a swift, powerful, tornado of moves, Sean and Kevin laid waste to the robots. The air was filled with the noise of the two young adults' kiais and the sounds of the robots exploding at they were struck by the powerful attacks of Sean and Kevin. Anyone who was within earshot or seeing distance watched in awe as these two—dare I say—living weapons routed the robots almost with ease. The two fought with an intensity that amazed all those who were watching. The robots could barely stand a chance.

One tried to get Kevin from behind, but he grabbed the robot's arm, and in a swift move, threw the robot the ground, damaging the machinery inside, rendering it useless. Finally, all the robots were gone, and the two humans stood tall above the wreckage of the robots. The two got into a resting stance and let out a deep breath before taking a bow before them. And with that, the crowd burst into cheers. The two turned around again and bowed as well. Then the girls who they had saved ran up to the both of them and gave them big hugs.

"_Arigato gozaimasu!_!" They said to them. Too bad Sean and Kevin didn't speak a word of Japanese.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're saying," said Sean. The girls didn't understand either, though, and it just lent to even more confusion. "Um, we gotta go, okay, but, uh, you're welcome!" The two left to the cheers of the crowd. Sean couldn't help but soak up the cheers, much to his friend's chagrin.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Impressive," said Col. Greene after watching the footage of Sean and Kevin beating the robots, which had been taken from a security camera nearby.

"That's good form," said someone else.

"Motomiya," Col. Greene said to a soldier in the room. "Can you zoom in on those two for me?" The soldier did as was requested and zoomed the picture in on Sean and Kevin. Then he paused the video so the people in the room looked at them.

"They remind me of our trainees," said one of the soldiers in the room.

"Good then," said Col. Greene. "I look forward to meeting the candidates tomorrow. Have the invitations been sent?"

"Yes sir, they will receive them tomorrow morning."

"Good."

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"Not bad, huh?" Sean said as he got back in the car. "We kicked their asses, if you say so."

"Whatever," Maria said. "You only had to fight ten robots, if you fought any more of them, you would have been beaten."

"Are you saying we got lucky?" Sean asked. "That's not luck, that's what 11 years of martial arts training and hockey can do!"

"I wasn't saying you got lucky," said Maria. "I'm just saying you should be grateful you only had to fight 10 robots instead of 50!"

"Whatever!" Sean replied. "A beat down is a beat down in my book."

"By the way, where do those things keep coming from?" Maria asked.

"I don't know," said Sean. "But I've been messing with them for about two weeks now and some people have even sent pictures where I'm on a wanted poster! HA!"

"I hope it doesn't go to your ego," said Maria.

"It has," said Kevin. "I should know, I'm his friend let me tell you; he's got a pretty big ego. I wouldn't call it Limbaugh-sized, though, but pretty big."

"Well then, that proves my point," said Maria. But then Kevin leaned to whisper in Maria's ear and said,

"Actually, he's really not a bad person. Once you get to know him, you'll find he really cares about his friends and family. He's a gentle person at heart. Just give some time and you'll see."

Daisuke Miyazawa, the young man who was on the train bound from Kyoto, watched the footage of Sean and Kevin's fight with the Swabots on the news in his hotel room. His 18-year-old sister Hitomi watched as well. Daisuke was around 21. His hair was shorter than Sean's, and he seemed to have the same build as him, that is, the build of a second baseman. He was also around 5 feet, 10 inches.

Hitomi, meanwhile, was much shorter than him, around maybe 5 feet 4 inches and had lighter skin, compared to her brother's. She had long, wavy hair that unlike her brother's hair-which was jet black-was sort of a hybrid between brown and black, which made her look a little bit like a J-pop singer. Of course, their mother wasn't too happy about that, because it sort of gave her unwanted attention. And unlike Sean, who parted his hair down the middle, Daisuke parted his hair on the right.

"He's good," Hitomi said in Japanese. "Do you think he's here for the same reason we are?"

"Maybe," her brother replied, also in Japanese. "If they are, then this should be interesting."

"I wonder where they're from." Hitomi asked.

"They might be European or American," said Daisuke.

"American?" Hitomi asked. Daisuke nodded. Hitomi shrugged and went back to reading.

[][][]

"Come on, hurry up with those bags!" Sean said to the valet guy at the hotel. "And don't drop them, either!"

"Calm down," said Kevin. "It's not like we're in hurry or anything."

"Whatever, I just want to get to the room and take a shower, I smell like shite."

"Watch the language!" Kevin said. "There might be kids listening."

"Except they might not be able to understand us," said Sean. "So I can get away with that."

"Except they might know a little bit of English," said Kevin. "So you might not."

"Can you two quit arguing and come inside so we can check in?" Maria shouted.

"All right! All right! We'll be there!" Sean said, slightly slipping into an Irish accent as he said it. "I hate it when that happens," he said to Kevin as they entered the building.

After checking in, the three went to their rooms. Sean and Kevin were sharing a room, while Maria had her own room. Both were on the same part of the building, the Park Floor. Sean and Kevin again, had their own room. When they opened the door to their room, the sight of it floored them, and they both gave a simultaneous drawn-out "whoa."

"This is incredible!" Sean shouted. "Look at this! We're living in the lap of luxury tonight, Kevin my man!" He went around the room, seeing what was in it. "Look at this, we got a fridge! And an LCD T.V.! We'll be living like kings tonight Kevin!" The room's area was 409 sq. ft, with two rooms, a TV room and the bedroom, which had two beds. It also had a kitchen, with the previously mentioned refrigerator.

Of course, as this was only one kind of room, (listed on the website as the 'Park Suite Room' on the website) it worked for them anyway. "Kevin, check out this view of the city!" The view was spectacular. It had a view of the Tower, the park surrounding it and the surrounding city. It began to hit the two that they were in friggin' _Tokyo!_ "Dude, I still can't believe we're here in Tokyo!"

"Neither can I!" Kevin said. "Hey, let's get something to eat."

"Okay, but first, I have to shower."

Even the restaurant they ate at amazed them. The place they ate at, the Brise Verte on the 33rd floor had a fantastic view of the city. And wouldn't you know it, Maria was there as well. "So do you like it here?" She said to them.

"Are you shittin' me?" Sean asked. "This place is awesome!"

"I'm glad you like it," said Maria. "By the way, what have you heard about the Gulf Oil Spill lately?"

"BP's incompetent," said Sean. "And I'm not sure what this has to do with the conversation."

"Then I guess I'll have to wonder where the Robots are coming from," she said.

"We don't know," said Sean.

"Maybe you should care," said Kevin.

"You don't care?" Maria. "But they keep popping up—"

"And I don't care!" Sean said, cutting her off. "All we do is beat the crap out of those things and that's it."

"Where?" asked Maria.

"A few of them appeared when I went to Michigan a couple months ago," Sean said. "They came near me and I just beat the shit out of them.

"They just came near you?" Asked Maria.

Sean nodded. "Yep!"

"But you don't care that innocent people are getting hurt or possibly killed?" Maria asked.

"We never said that," said Kevin.

"All we said was that we don't care where these things come from, we just beat them anyway."

"If there's anyone in trouble with them, we help them out," said Kevin.

"So I guess he really does care," she said to herself. "Of course, I also wonder why you two didn't invite me to beat up those robots."

"Because you objected when we got out of the car," said Sean. Maria sighed in exasperation when she realized he was right. "I forgot to tell you, but I was the captain of my junior hockey team."

"You really like hockey?" Maria asked. Sean nodded.

A bit later, Daisuke went down to the vending machines to get a snack for him and Hitomi. He really didn't marvel at the place, since he had been in the hotel a few times before when he and his family had gone to Tokyo, usually for some business-related reason. He found the vending machines and he noticed a young man, around his age, with a green track jacket, which he assumed to be from Roma Atletica. He was also wearing a baseball cap. The person also seemed to be American. He was struggling with the vending machine, and was starting to get agitated somewhat, coming close to hitting it.

"Come on, you stupid machine!" He said to the machine. He tried to hit it, but not with a punch to try and get it to work, but he seemed to have trouble. "Come on! Stupid machine, I-"

"Careful, you don't want to break that," said Daisuke. The person turned around and looked at him with his brown eyes.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because if you break it," he said. "You might have to pay for the damages."

"Whatever," he said. "I just want my damn pop!"

"Then try a different machine," said Daisuke. So, the American tried a different machine.

And wouldn't you know it, it worked. "All right!" The American shouted and pumped his fist.

But Daisuke seemed to recognize him. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" He said. The American gave him a very confused look, as if he did not know what the hell was going on.

"I don't know," he said. "Have we met? Because the last time I checked, I've never been to this country!"

"I know I've seen you somewhere..." he looked at the American's face a little longer, which started to make him uncomfortable. "Wait, I know where I've seen you!" He said. The American looked at him in an intrigued manner. "I think I saw you on the news, beating a bunch of robots today."

The American thought about it for a few moments, then smiled in realization at what he was talking about. "Oh yeah," he said. "There were ten of 'em. They didn't stand a chance. Wait, how did you see me?"

"Some security camera caught you and your friend beating several robots."

"They did?" The American said. "Damn, I didn't know that. Well I guess since I'm a celebrity now, I might as well tell you who I am. My name's Sean, Sean O' Callahan."

"_Hajimemashite_," he said in Japanese. Sean, however, looked at him with a confused face. Obviously, he didn't speak Japanese. "Oh, my apologies," said Daisuke. "I simply said, 'how do you do.' My name is Daisuke Miyazawa."

"Okay then, since we're on the topic of pleasantries, _Tá mé go breá." _Now it was Daisuke's turn to be confused. "It's Gaelic, dude," said Sean. "It means, 'I'm fine'."

"Oh, okay," said Daisuke. Daisuke got his snacks and got ready to go. But before he did, he asked, "So why are you here in Tokyo?"

"Me? I'm here because I got some e-mail from the Miyazawa Group, five weeks ago that that told me about an internship and simply included airline ticket information and hotel information and told me that it was all for free. I pretty much jumped at it."

"Wait," said Daisuke, as he began to think. "That is my family's company."

"Oh, that's nice," said Sean. "My friend got one too, and I've also found out this girl from Venezuela got one, too."

"Then I wish you luck," said Daisuke. "My sister and I are here to participate in the internship recruitment."

"Your sister's here?" Sean asked.

"Yes, she is," said Daisuke.

"Our Venezuelan friend wonders if it has to do with those robots," said Sean. "Personally, I don't care. I'm outta here," he said, and departed. Daisuke could only wonder what in the world was going on.

"So what took you?" Kevin asked as Sean re-entered the room.

"Got into a conversation with a dude from Kyoto," said Sean. "He's here to help with the internship recruitment."

"He is?" Kevin asked as he started to get up from one of the couches.

"Yeah, and he's here with his sister," said Sean.

"That's nice," said Kevin. "Come on and sit down, already. I found an English channel." Sean forgot about the recent events and sat down on the couch with the snacks he got from the vending machines. Even with the strange events going on, the matter with the internship didn't bother him too much.

But the next morning, the pieces began to come together. Around 8:00 local time, the friends heard a knock on the door of their room. They ignored it at first, but it was persistent, knocking every two minutes for maybe a half an hour. Finally, Sean got up out of bed. He hated mornings, especially early ones, when his hair looked terrible. It's morning hair, alright? Anyway, he's just not a morning person. In his groggy state, but gradually waking up, Sean walked to the door of the room. "I'm coming!" He said. The knocking continued until he opened the door. A hotel employee stood in the doorway. "What?" He said in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Are you Sean O' Callahan-san?" He said.

"Yeah," said Sean. "I'm him."

"And Kevin O' Donnell-san."

"He's still in bed," said Sean. "Can I take a message?"

"Here you go," said the employee, shoving the envelopes in Sean's hands. Then the employee walked away before Sean could say anything. The envelopes were simple, white envelopes which simply had the names 'Sean O' Callahan' and 'Kevin O' Donnell' in black ink. Sean went back into the bedroom part of the room and dropped the envelope with Kevin's name on the bed. Sean could not wait anymore and opened the envelope with his name on it. It read;

"_To Mr. Sean E. O' Callahan-_

_You are to come to an undisclosed location at 1300 hours Tokyo time. The address has not been written in this letter, due to the possibility of anyone seeing this message. A ride has been provided for you and will pick you up at a designated time and place. The place is at the hotel you are staying at. The time will be given to you when you receive a text message telling you that your escort has arrived. If you do not come, there will be consequences._

_Signed, Anonymous."_

Sean put down the letter; a look of disbelief dominated his face. Now he was fully awake. What was going on? Who was this person? And why did it say there will be consequences?

"Sean?" Kevin asked. Apparently he had read his letter too, because he had the look Sean had on his face. "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know," said Sean. "But whatever it is, it's going to be one hell of a ride."

_To Be Continued..._


	2. Start Your Engines, Part 2

Power Rangers GPX, Episode 2: Start Your Engines, Part 2

[][][]

It was about 12:00 Tokyo time. For four hours, Sean and Kevin had been waiting nervously for when the text message telling them the time the car will come and the tension was getting thicker by the nanosecond. What was going on? Was this related to the robots? They hadn't thought about it at first, but now the appearance of the robots, coupled with the e-mails they received was starting make them think differently. Maybe since they received it around the same time the robots first showed up there was a possible connection.

[][][]

Maria, meanwhile, also waited nervously, trying to keep herself calm through meditation. But no matter what she tried—tai chi, meditation, none of it seemed to calm her down. Way had that letter come to her? And what was this address it was talking about? Her suspicions about the robots were starting to become somewhat valid now, because of the internship offer she received two weeks ago, which strangely coincided with the first sighting of the robots. She could only wonder for now.

[][][]

Daisuke and Hitomi also waited nervously. And they too, were thinking about the appearance of the robots and the e-mail they received two weeks ago. Daisuke thought about Sean's statements that he received an E-mail around the same time Daisuke and Hitomi received theirs. Hitomi, though, was more worried about her brother. Maybe he knew something she didn't know. "Brother?" She said.

"What is it, Hitomi?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm just... thinking."

[][][]

"Goddammit, this wait is pissing me off," said Sean.

"Easy Sean," said Kevin. He was trying to keep his friend calm, as usual. Even though he was a month younger, Sean's hot-blooded and hot-headed ways in a sense made Kevin the more mature one-even though Kevin could be just as hot-blooded and hot-headed as Sean, even more at times.

"I wanna beat some robots," said Sean. "At least it's more relaxing than this!"

Kevin sighed at his friend. He was the same as always, itching for a fight. Or was he? Maybe he was just commenting on how much easier it is to fight robots than it is to wait for a text message that might contain your future in it!

"_New reports of robot attacks have increased lately._" the news program that was on TV caught their attention from their previous thoughts. "_Officials have no comment on the recent attacks._"

Strangely enough, all five people, Sean, Kevin, Daisuke, Maria and Hitomi were watching the news report. The slightly urgent tone of the report told them that there was indeed something going on. Although it seemed unlikely, it was possible that these sightings of the robots may have been connected.

_Meanwhile, in an unknown location..._

"Those stupid humans! Don't they realize they're being invaded?" A voice said in the black. The voice sounded like an insane person.

"They're starting to catch on," said another voice. It belonged to a man, much more sinister. "Perhaps it will only be a matter of time before things get interesting."

Oh, COME ON! I want to kill some humans!"

"Calm down!" A much more sinister yet calm voice said; probably the leader. "We will destroy everything, but when the time is right. But once that time comes, the humans won't know what hit them!"

"Hmmm, that sounds fun," said another voice. It belonged to a woman, most likely. "I can't wait to destroy these miserable creatures."

"I can't wait either," one of the voices said. "It looks almost easy."

"But we should be cautious," one of the voices said. "They might be more of a challenge than we thought."

"Which is exactly why I look forward to it!" The more savage voice said.

"Relax! Very well then, we will send our first monster to attack today. Now select a random city and send him there!"

"Yes, commander," the voice paused for a few seconds. "The city of Tokyo, in the land known as 'Japan' has been chosen. It seems that is where our enemy is beginning to move."

"Now then, it's time!"

[][][]

It was around maybe 12:15 when Sean and Kevin got their text message. It had been quiet for some time, and their phones going off startled them like someone had come up behind them and popped a balloon. Luckily, they recovered fast enough to see what it was. The text message said; "_The car will be at the front of your hotel at 1230 hours. Be ready_."

"Are we going to go?" Kevin asked, some worry in his voice.

"Do we have any other choice?" Sean replied. The silence in the room was deafening. Their destinies were about to change, and they knew that. But how it would happen was the scariest part of the equation. "We're going to have to do this," said Sean. "If this turns out to be a life-changing experience, I don't want to have to look back 50 years from now and regret the fact that when I was given the chance for greatness, I didn't take it. I don't know what will happen, but I'm taking the plunge, anyway." Kevin looked at his American friend for a few moments and then nodded his head in agreement. The call had come for them. Now, they will answer it.

At about 12:25 Tokyo time, Sean and Kevin made their way to the front entrance of the Prince Park Hotel. They were still nervous, and could feel goodness knows how many butterflies in their stomachs, probably a million. And they were also having second thoughts about what they were doing. The mystery of what exactly they were getting into was starting to catch up with the two and-

"What are you two doing here?" A voice said. The voice startled them, just like when they got the text message. It was Maria.

"We could ask you the same question," said Sean.

"Me? I got a text message telling me to be out here because some... wait, did the both of you get the same message?"

The two looked at each other, and then Kevin said, "What did your message say?"

"It said to be out here by 12:30." She said. "Why, did yours say something like that?"

"Yeah, it did," said Sean. "And we got some letters telling us we had to be at some location by 1:00."

"Wait, you too?" Maria asked. "I guess I wasn't the only one. I wonder if this has to do with that e-mail." The three were left to think about what was going on. Then another voice came.

"Sean O' Callahan, what are you doing here?" Daisuke said as he came down the steps.

"I could say the same thing to you," said Sean. "Let me guess, you got a letter and a text message, right?"

"Yeah, we did," said Daisuke. "Hitomi and I got the message around 12:15."

"So I'm guessing that's your sister," Sean said, pointing to Hitomi.

"Yes she is," said Daisuke. "Hitomi, this is Sean O'Callahan, the American we saw yesterday on the news."

"Hi," said Hitmoi.

"Who's he?" said Maria, pointing to the guy next to Daisuke and Hitmoi.

"Him? He's Toji-san, our bodyguard," Daisuke said.

"Must be rich," Sean whispered to Kevin.

"Who's he?" Hitomi asked, pointing to Kevin.

"I'm Kevin O' Donnell, Sean's friend," he said. "But I'm from Ireland, I'm not American. And she's Maria Aparicio from Venezeula," he said as he pointed to Maria.

"_Hola," _she said.

"So now that we're all introduced, I guess we can all try to find out what the hell is going on," Said Sean. It didn't take long for that question to be answered, because soon enough, a black SUV pulled up to the driveway.

The company was silent. They wondered if this was the car that the text message mentioned. Just to be sure, Daisuke checked his watch. Sure enough, it was 12:30. The SUV had tinted windows, so seeing inside it was impossible. Then, the driver's side door opened and a man wearing a black suit and tie, with black sunglasses stepped out of the car and approached the group.

"Let's see here..." He said, while looking over something. "Sean O'Callahan?"

"That's me," said Sean.

"Kevin O'Donnell?"

"Yeah," said Kevin.

"Maria Aparicio?"

"_Si_."

"Daisuke Miyazawa?"

"I'm here."

"Hitomi Miyazawa?"

"_Hai."_

"Could you all please come with me?" He said. The group looked at each other, now that they knew this was the car the message told them about. But they were a little hesitant to do so.

"Should we get in the car?" Hitomi asked.

"What if we don't?" Maria replied. "Will we regret it?"

"If this does turn out to be great," said Sean. "50 years from now, will you look back and have regrets if you didn't get in the car? Or will you be glad you did?" The rest of the group thought about their decision for a few moments before they all agreed.

"We'll come," said Daisuke.

"Good," said the agent. The group started to enter the car, but the agent said, "I'm sorry, but who is he?"

"He's my bodyguard," said Daisuke. "Toji-san."

"I'm sorry, but he can't come with us," said the agent. "He doesn't have clearance."

"Go ahead," said Toji-san. "I'll wait here for you."

"Thank you, Toji-san," Hitomi said in Japanese. She did not regret getting in the car, but she did regret leaving Toji-san behind. But the others didn't seem to mind that much. They just wanted to know what would happen next.

The group got in the car and fastened their seat belts. They thought they were going to leave right then and there, but the agent said, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to put these on." In his hand were five blindfolds. Why he had them just made things even more confusing.

"How come?" Kevin asked.

"The place we're going to is a top-secret location," said the agent. "For now, you'll just have to wear these, because we're not sure whether or not you'll tell anyone about the location." Did they have any other choice in the matter?

"All right, we'll take them," said Daisuke. The agent handed them the blindfolds and all five of them put them on. For the next 30 minutes, all they would see was the blank blindness of the blindfolds, and a lingering sense of worry that made them all wonder just what the hell they were getting themselves into.

[][][]

"Are we there yet? I'm starting to fall asleep back here!" Sean said in a very agitated tone of voice. They had been in the car for goodness-knows-how-long and they had no way of knowing where they were or what time it was because of the damn blindfolds. They could hear the car motor running, but they couldn't hear outside the car, either. "Hell, I think one of the girls has fallen asleep by now because I think I feel someone laying their head on my shoulder!"

"We'll be there soon enough, don't worry," said the agent.

"You said that a long time ago," Daisuke whispered to himself.

"Like I said, we'll be there soon," said the agent. The whole thing was starting to look less like a life-changing experience to one that was simply mediocre, and now they _were _starting to have regrets about coming. But the thing about the call to adventure is that it can seem mediocre at times. Sure enough, "We're here!" The agent said. The group wondered what was going on, wait, they've arrived? Where were they? And what was going on? "You can take off those blindfolds now," said the agent. The group removed the blindfolds and the scene before them stunned them.

They were in a room now, almost like a hangar or something. They didn't know what it was. So, they got out of the car, although Sean had some difficulty getting out because Hitomi Miyazawa was the girl who had laid her head on his shoulder, and he had to be gentle waking her up. The room, although mentioned to be like a hanger, was not an aircraft hangar, but much smaller. In fact, it might not even count as a hanger. It was in fact, more of a garage. "This way," said the agent. The group looked at each other and then followed him in to the next room.

The next room was much different, almost like a scene from some sci-fi TV show or something like that. The room was filled with computers and people scurrying about, doing their jobs. The next room was a bit bigger, though, having more floor space. Then the agent stopped to talk to someone else, who seemed to be wearing what looked like a military uniform. The agent and the woman, who had her hair in a bun, exchanged a few words, before the woman said, "Can you follow me, please?" Once again, the group followed her. This time, she led them to a different room where a man, who looked to be African,

"Welcome!" Make that African-American. The man was dressed in the officers' uniform of the United States Army, which surprised them, since they're in _Japan._ The man seemed to be taller than all the members of the group, even Kevin. "My name is Colonel Alan Greene of the United States Army." That answers that question. "I suppose you're all wondering why you're here," he said.

"You bet your ass!" said Sean..

"Please, don't get upset," said Col. Greene. "Sit down here and I'll tell you what's going on." The group sat down at the table that occupied the room while Col. Greene stood. "What you are about to hear is going to change your lives; whether or not you accept it is up to you, though."

"So what do you want from us?" Maria said.

"Please, be patient," said Col. Greene. "First, why don't we introduce ourselves? Like I said, my name's Col. Alan Greene, United States Army, I'm 45 years old, and I live in Arlington, Virginia. Also a member of the West Point class of 1987. I know some of you have already introduced yourselves, but let's just do it formally. Just tell us your name, where you're from, and what you do. We'll start here." He pointed to Daisuke.

"Konnichiwa," he said. "My name is Daisuke Miyazawa. I am 21 years old, from Kyoto. I attend the University of Kyoto and I am studying business. I want to run the Miyazawa company when I am older."

"Good, good," said Col. Greene. "You there." He pointed to Maria.

"Maria Gabriela Aparicio Rodriquez," she said. "I'm also 21 and I'm from Caracas, Venezuela. But I live in Rio de Janeiro and go to the State University of Rio de Janeiro. I want to be a teacher some day, preferably in a poor village in Colombia or Brazil."

"Ah, a teacher," said Col. Greene. "That's a very admirable profession. You there, Hitomi?"

"Yes. I am Hitomi Miyazawa," she said. "I am also from Kyoto, but I should be in school. I'm only 18 and I haven't graduated high school yet. And I want to be a mangaka when I get older. I really like watching anime, though."

"Good, good," said Col. Greene. "Sean?"

"What up? Name's Sean O'Callahan, and I'm a hockeyholic," he joked. "I'm 21, I'm from the South Side of Chicago neighborhood of Beverly, but I also play hockey for the University of Wisconsin Badgers."

"You never said that!" Maria gasped.

"You never asked," he replied.

"And finally?"

"Hello, I'm Kevin O'Donnell," he said. "I'm from Dublin, I'm 25 years old, and I attend the postgraduate program at University College Dublin. I would also like to be a teacher."

"Perfect!" said Col. Greene. "Now, I bet you're wondering about those Suitroops." No answer. "Then again, maybe not; but I'll explain anyways. And I'm not going to answer as to how we got your e-mail addresses and phone numbers at the moment." Kevin's question was shot down. "You see, 15 years ago, someone came to the CIA. He just showed up out of the blue. They didn't know who he was, but he appeared to be frightened and intimidated.

"He said he was on the run from someone, but he asked us not to tell anyone about who he was running from. But he told us that the force was on Earth, and they had enough firepower to wipe out human civilization in an hour. The CIA was bewildered, but a lie detector test and an intercepted communique proved his story right. Someone was planning to attack us.

"The United Nations panicked and convened a secret meeting of the Security Council to discuss this threat. There was, of course, the possibility that this was all a hoax, but they wanted to be ready, anyhow.

"A few scientists and military officials came up with some solutions, but the UN didn't like any of them. However, one proposal that came to their attention intrigued them. One scientist from MIT told them he was part of a project had been working on an exoskeleton that could not only make a human almost invincible, but could also increase their abilities. The UN liked the proposal and the project was given the green light."

"So what does that have to do with us?" Sean asked impatiently.

"Be patient, I'm getting to that," said Col. Greene. "The scientists began working on the project in earnest, and the UN assigned a military officer, my predecessor, to oversee the project. But they found out that in order for someone to use this armor, as they began calling it, they needed to be in top physical form. So, four years after the project was green-lit, a number of candidates, ranging from the ages of 8 through 15, were selected. For the next 11 years, they went through rigorous training in martial arts, sharp shooting, strategy and other skills."

"And what does that have to do with us again?" Said Sean, a little more agitated.

"I said, be patient," said Col. Greene. "Do any of you remember having to take karate classes?"

"Yeah, I had to do karate three times a week," said Sean. "And then I got Kung fu. And some other stuff, too."

"I had to do that too!" Kevin said.

"So did I," Maria said.

"And me," said Daisuke.

"And me," said Hitomi. Now it was starting to hit them. They were among the candidates!

"What is this about?" Sean asked.

"I'm getting to that," said Col. Greene. "Recently, we received another message, this one from a different source. It was the bad guys. We had to get the Project started soon. So two weeks ago, we sent you all e-mails to have you come here to Tokyo."

"So that's what that was about!" Sean said.

"Exactly," said Col. Greene. "This force is poised to attack Earth. The only way to stop them is for the five of you to use the armor."

"What armor?" Hitomi asked.

"The armor is a special armor," Col. Greene said, ignoring Hitmoi. "The armor is a specially made armor that not only protects the user, but increases their abilities more than tenfold." Didn't they already go over this? The screen showed pictures of men wearing what looked like…

"Looks like spandex," said Sean. "The world's greatest armor is spandex? And why is he wearing a motorcycle helmet?"

"It's not spandex," said Col. Greene. "Those are prototype suits, the pictures were taken during the early development stages. By now, things are different."

"Whatever," Sean said. He was starting to get annoyed by this development and wanted out. But Col. Greene kept going.

"The armor is made of highly advanced nanotechnology. The armor can be stored in small spaces, and can be activated using a voice command. This is a voice recognition technique that-"

"I get it, the suits amazing!" Kevin said in a very annoyed tone. "Now can you tell us what this has to do with us?"

"I was going to get to that later, but since you're being impatient, I'll have to explain now," said an equally annoyed Col. Greene. "What we want you to do is to use this armor and fight the alien invaders as Power Rangers!"

"Power Rangers?!" Sean asked, laughing. "Are you kidding me? That's a friggin' TV Show! And the Rangers didn't fight in spandex, that's for sure!"

"It's not spandex!" Col. Greene barked. "What would happen if you said that to the person who made it?"

"Look, I don't care about this anymore," said Sean. The thing about the aliens, that was outlandish at first, but this? Don't insult my intelligence!"

Col. Greene sighed in exasperation. "You do know 'Power Rangers' is based off of a Japanese show, right?" Daisuke asked.

"Hey shut up, rich boy, I wasn't talking to you!" Sean snapped.

"Easy!" Col. Greene said, trying to control the situation.

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do!" Daisuke replied to Sean.

"ENOUGH!" Col. Greene yelled. The group stopped their argument and looked at him. "I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to do," said Col. Greene. "But the fate of the world is at stake here!"

"So what about the internships we were recruited for?" asked Maria.

"There was no internship," said Col. Greene. "It was just a way for us to bring you here." They all groaned. This was the last straw.

"Well Kevin and I can take on the robots on our own!" Sean said.

"There's more robots than you know of," said Col. Greene. "The fate of the world is at stake, and you're not going to accept this?"

"Like I said, this is ri-goddam-diculous!" Sean said. "And how do we know this isn't a hoax?"

"This operation is not a hoax!" Col. Greene replied. "But I get it, you're concerned about the enemy. Don't worry, we have plenty of evidence proving the threat is real. We just don't know who or what the threat is."

"Then why the fuck should I believe this?" asked Sean. "If you don't have any proof about the threat, then why the fuck should I care?"

"I'm sorry," said Hitomi. "But have to agree with O'Callahan-san, I'm not sure if I can believe this."

"Neither can I," said Kevin.

"Or me." Maria said. Col. Greene's face turned from anger to disappointment as the group voiced their statements. He had no other choice. He had to let them go.

"You're free to go," said Col. Greene. "But first," he motioned to a soldier in the room who then left. A few second later, the soldier returned carrying what looked like a case. "Bit before you go, please take these." He opened the case up and showed the group the contents inside. Inside were five... things. They looked like bracelets, only bigger.

"What are they?" Sean asked.

"They're nothing that special," said Col. Greene. "But we would appreciate it if you could take them." The group took the bracelets, thinking they were nothing special. They had what looked like buttons on it. They were grey, with touches of red, green, blue, pink, and yellow. The group strapped the bracelets on their left wrists and marveled at them. They also had what looked like a circle on them. They were mostly rectangular shaped, but with a curve on the lower part of it. "By the way, if you need any help, just say 'GPX, Start it up', okay?"

"Sure," said Sean skeptically. Col. Greene suspected he was just humoring him. "Come on Kevin, let's go." He, Kevin, Maria and Hitomi left the room, but Daisuke stayed behind for some reason.

"You believe me, don't you?" Col. Greene asked.

"What color will I get?" Daisuke asked. "I was guaranteed a leadership position."

"You'll see," said Col. Greene.

"Hey rich boy, let's go!" Sean said. Daisuke bowed to Col. Greene and said,

"Thanks, anyway," and left. Col. Greene only stood there and watched the group leave the room.

The group once again had to wear blindfolds in the car. But this time, the agent said they could take them off whenever the agent told them they could and then they would be dropped of in Shibuya so the car could not be tracked. The group was allowed to take their blindfolds off when they were in Shibuya, and the agent told them he would let them off near the Hachiko statue, but in an alley so that no one would see the car. He also told them they would have money so that they could buy a subway ticket back to the Minato Ward. Finally, they were dropped off near the statue and the driver drove off. "Jeez," said Sean. "What a bunch of losers. Yeah, go ahead and rub our lot in life in our faces, jagovs."

With nothing else to do for the rest of the day, the group decided they would walk around for a while. But Sean and Daisuke didn't talk to each other. They decided they would look around for a place to eat, since they hadn't eaten in a while.

"Hi, don't believe we've been formally introduced," Hitomi said to Maria, which caught the Venezuelan off guard. "My name is Hitomi Miyazawa; do you want to be friends?"

Maria gawked at the suddenness randomness of Hitomi's request, but she smiled and said, "Sure, let's be friends."

"Okay, then! Hey, do you guys want to go the Omotesando Hills?" She said. The other members of the group looked at each other in confusion, not only because of the randomness of this, but because Sean, Kevin and Maria had no idea what the hell it was.

"Why do you want to go the mall?" Daisuke asked.

"I don't know," she said, trying to be cute. "I just thought we might find something to eat there!"

"No thanks," said Sean. "We're right near-what's this place called-Shibuya 109, maybe we'll find something-" But his statement was cut off when an explosion rocked the place, sending cars and asphalt flying.

"Get down!" Daisuke said. The group did so, with Sean trying to protect Hitomi. Why he did it, he didn't know.

When the debris stopped flying, Sean got up and said, "What the hell was that?" He didn't have to look far for his answer, because there they were.

"Robots!" Kevin said.

"Lot's of 'em," said Sean.

"Well, what are we waiting for," said Daisuke. "Let's see what it is!"

"_Right!" _The group said in unison.

Just around the corner, a crowd of people could be seen running from an as-of-yet unknown force. It wasn't too long before a large force of robots appeared. They must have been the culprits of these attacks. But they were not the only force there. Standing tall was a strange-looking monster or something that seemed to be commanding the robots. "Suitroops, we've waited a long time for this!" The monster said. The monster looked like a combination between a rhino and human, with Cyborg parts. His name was Rhinotaur. "ATTACK!" The Suitroops rushed the people in the street, causing them to run as fast as they could.

"You will not!" A voice said from behind them.

"What!" Rhinotaur shouted. He and the Suitroops turned around in an instant and saw five humans standing in the street, as if they wanted to fight him, and showing body language that they intended to do so. "What do you want, you filthy humans?"

"We will not let you destroy everything!" Daisuke said. "You will be defeated!" Sean wasn't too happy about Daisuke's futile attempt to be hot-blooded.

"You think you can stop us? HA! Don't make me laugh! Suitroops, attack!" The Suitroops charged at the group, ready to attack.

"Let's go!" Daisuke shouted.

"_Right!" _The group charged at the Suitroops themselves and the two forces clashed midway.

Daisuke took on what appeared to be the lead Suitroops. Daisuke gave one Suitroop a side-kick, and then gave the next a front kick with the same leg. Both bots went down. Then he punched two more, sending them flying. The next one got landed a punch on Daisuke, but he flipped the bot over on to its back. _These things just keep coming! _He thought frantically. A Suitroop came at him brandishing its sword, knocking him out of his thoughts. Daiuke dodged the attack and caught the Suitroop's arm as it came down. Daisuke took a deep breath and sent a roundhouse kick at another Suitroop's head, which knocked the robot's head off.

"YAAAA!" Sean gave a swift reverse roundhouse kick to a Suitroop's head. With a swift turn, Sean gave another Suitroop a side-kick, sending it flying back into another group of Suitroops. But then he felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him. A Suitroop had kicked him in the gut and caught him off guard. Sean doubled over in pain, but he recovered fast enough to block a punch by another Suitroop and then punched it in its gut. The robot doubled over and Sean finished the job with an elbow to its back. But the Suitroops had a massive numerical advantage, which he hadn't dealt with before.

Kevin punched his Suitroop opponent right in its gut, possibly doing some damage internally. Another Suitroop came at Kevin, but he ducked and the Suitroop missed him, but hit the Suitroop Kevin had just punched in the head. But Kevin's right arm was grabbed by another Suitroop and wouldn't let go. Kevin kicked the 'bot and knocked it away, but another grabbed his left. The Suitroops ganged up on Kevin and kicked him in the gut, knocking his breath out. _These Suitroops are different!_ He thought. _They're not like the ones I'm used to!_

The Suitroop swung its staff at Maria, but she ducked and rolled underneath the robot's arm. With a sweep kick, she knocked the robot on its back. Then she blocked another Suitroop's attack, but a second Suitroop kicked her in the back. Maria screamed in pain at the robot's attack and feel forward. A Suitroop raised its sword above its head, preparing to strike, but Maria rolled out of the way, got up and kicked the sword out of the Suitroop's hand before it could strike. She spun around and kicked the same 'bot again, knocking it to the ground. But a Suitroop tripped her up and she fell to the ground.

The Suitroop tried to bring its sword down on Hitomi, but she managed to dodge that. But another tried to assault her from the front, but she did a back flip and kicked the robot in its 'jaw'. The Suitroops then attacked her with a coordinated attack, but she managed to fight a few of them off before a Suitroop sweet kick knocked her off her feet. But she recovered quickly and blocked a Suitroop kick with her right leg before getting back up and delivering a swift roundhouse kick that knocked the Suitroop off its feet. But the Suitroops were too much for her, and she couldn't hold on much longer before several Suitroops got to her.

A Suitroop knocked Sean off his feet and the next thing he knew he had a face full of asphalt. Sean growled in frustration as the Suitroops closed in. Daisuke himself was taken down by several Suitroops and Kevin was kicked from behind. The Suitroops were too many for Sean to take on. Now all the members of the group were lying on the ground in defeat and the Suitroops were leaving the scene. Worst of all, Rhinotaur was taunting them. "Is that the best you filthy humans can do? HA! You're pathetic!" Sean growled angrily and looked at Daisuke and said,

"Hey Miyazawa, you got any ideas?" But Daisuke stayed silent. He had been caught off guard too much by the Suitroop attacks that he couldn't think of anything to do. "Miyazawa!" Sean yelled angrily. Again, Daisuke laid on the ground in shock at what happened. But Sean wasn't going to take this. "We're looking for guidance, leader-boy, come on!" But Daisuke said,

"I don't know what to do." That was the last straw. Sean could not take this while Daisuke, who seemed to be the leader, sat around and did nothing. If Daisuke wasn't going to take charge, then he _would._ But what would they do? Just then-

"Everyone, listen to me!" A voice came. The group looked around for the source of the voice. Then they saw where it was coming from. "You know those bracelets on your wrist-use them!" Col. Greene pleaded. Sean, even though he had been skeptical at first, knew desperate times called for desperate measures.

With this knowledge in mind, he got up off the street and stood up. Sean looked at the other people in the group and said, "Come on, get up! All of you!" The other members of the group looked at Sean in surprise at what he was doing. Wasn't Daisuke supposed to be leader? So what was Sean doing? "I said get up! NOW!" He yelled at the top of his voice.

"But what are we going to do?" Daisuke asked. "We don't have anything to throw against him!"

"We got something right here!" Sean said, showing them the bracelet. It was then that Daisuke's eyes widened in shock at Sean's realization of the bracelet. How did he know? "I may not have believed it before, but I'm desperate enough to try it! So GET THE FUCK UP _**NOW**_!" With Sean's 'encouragement', the other group members got up off the ground and gathered around Sean, from left to right, Maria, Daisuke, Sean, Kevin and Hitomi. "Hey you! Hey ugly!" Sean said to the monster.

The monster turned around and said, "Coming back for more?"

"That was just the first period!" Sean replied. "Now it's time for period 2!" Sean showed the monster the bracelet on his left wrist. "READY!?"

"_READY!" _In unison, the group yelled at the top of their lungs, "_GPX! START IT UP!"_

To be continued...


	3. Start Your Engines, Part 3

Power Rangers GPX, Episode 3: Start Your Engines, Part 3

[][][]

"That was just the first period!" Sean said. "Now it's time for period 2!" Sean showed the monster the bracelet on his left wrist. "READY, GUYS!?"

"_READY!" _In unison, the group yelled at the top of their lungs, "_GPX! START IT UP!"_ The group pressed a pair of buttons on the bracelets, and then raised their fists to the sky. Suddenly, the area was filled with a blinding light. Rhinotaur was forced to look away from the scene, and so were the crowds of people that were still around. When Rhinotaur looked again, something was different.

"I don't feel different," said Sean. He felt the same, so what happened? Had he been cheated? But then he looked at his hands. "WOAH!" He said. He was wearing... something! In fact, everyone was wearing it! The suits seemed to be color-coded: Yellow, Green, Red, Blue, Pink.

"Listen," said Col. Greene. "This is the result of 'Project Ranger'. You now have suits that will increase your abilities more than tenfold and this robotic exo-skeleton will protect you!" The suits had white sections going from the collar down the shoulders and arms. They also went down the sides of the chest starting from the armpits, down to the waist, with thin black lines on either side of the white ones.

On the arms, the stripes cut off just below the elbow on the forearm, where the gloves began. The wrist guard part of the gloves and the actual gloves themselves were white. The pants were a solid white. The boots were in there respective suit color. The gloves and boots had black rings like tires around them, at around where the gloves and boots started, just below the knees and elbows. The belt was black and had a holster for the weapon on the right side of the suit.

The helmets varied from suit to suit, but had the same base design, that included a black, opaque visor. A metal mouthpiece with three horizontal grills that stopped before they reached the edge of the guard was also included. Two wheel-like features were on the side of the helmets. On the front of the suit was a black symbol that looked like a wheel and the suit's number in a motion font in gold (1 for red, 2 for blue, 3 for green, 4 for yellow and 5 for pink).

"WOW!" Sean said. "I've never felt this incredible my whole life!" The feeling was like no feeling of euphoria he had ever felt in his life. It was almost like going on 10 roller coasters at once, it felt so good.

"This should be normal," said Col. Greene. "The first time you activate the suit, you should feel a sense of euphoria."

"I do!" Hitomi said. "It's the most wonderful feeling I've ever felt!"

"I love this!" Kevin said, balling his fists. "I want to kick some arse!"

"_¡Muy, muy bueno!" _Maria said. "_¡Me encanta esta sensación!"_

But Daisuke was silent. It wasn't because he hated the feeling of the suit; it was because he was in the green suit. Sean, meanwhile, was wearing red. Kevin was in blue, Maria in yellow and Hitomi in pink. The girls' suits also had skirts on them.

"What the hell are you!" Rhinotaur shouted.

"Who are we?" Sean said. "We're Power Rangers! GPX Red!"

"GPX Blue!" Kevin said.

"GPX Green!" Daisuke said.

"GPX Yellow!" Maria said.

"GPX Pink!" Hitomi shouted.

"_Power Rangers! GPX!_" The group posed and behind them, several explosions added to the spectacle.

"What the hell was that?" Kevin asked, referring to the explosions.

"Probably just for flair," said Sean. "Wait, how did we know what to say?"

"So you changed your costume, big deal!" Rhinotaur shouted.

"You sure about that?" Sean asked. "'Cuz now things are going to get interesting!"

"Suitroops, ATTACK!" The Suitroops charged at the group, with swords drawn.

"Rangers," said Col. Greene. "Your holster contains your primary weapon, the Octane Blaster. But it also has the capability of turning into the GP Saber, got it?"

"Got it!" Sean said. "All right guys; let's give these things a try. LET'S DO IT!"

"_RIGHT!_" The Rangers drew their Octane Blasters and charged the enemy Suitroops, and the two groups met in the middle.

Sean delivered a roundhouse kick to an oncoming Suitroop. The kick knocked the bot's head clean off. Then Sean kicked a Suitroop behind him without his foot touching the ground. The Suitroops closed in around Sean, but he drew his Octane Blaster-which looked like a combination between a fuel pump dispenser nozzle and a pistol for some reason-and shot a couple. The Suitroops exploded in a spectacular display of sparks. Another Suitroop came at Sean, but he flipped over the robot and shot it literally in the back with his Octane Blaster. In midair, Sean pulled a Matrix-like stunt and shot three Suitroops in midair. When he landed, a Suitroop came at him, but Sean held out his arm and clotheslined the Suitroop, knocking it on its back. Another Suitroop came at him and this one he gave reverse roundhouse kick, the robot fell to the ground in a twitching mess right there. Then Sean switched his Octane Blaster into a GP Saber and blocked an incoming Suitroop staff, then punched the Suitroop in the chest, knocking it back. "This thing is fuckin' awesome!" He said before going back to beating more Suitroops.

An incoming Suitroop brought its staff down on Kevin, but he spun around and then kicked the Suitroop in the back. He then grabbed an incoming punch from a Suitroop and flipped the bot on its back and then stomped on the robot's chest. But Kevin suddenly felt himself falling backwards as though a rug had been swept out from under him. Turns out a Suitroop and managed to knock him off his feet with a sweep kick. But Kevin quickly managed to recover as soon as he hit the ground and punched the Suitroop he thought was responsible for the sweep kick. The robot flew backwards and struck three other Suitroops, knocking them off their feet. Kevin blocked an incoming Suitroop punch, and then kicked it too. A Suitroop rushed in at Kevin, but he leaped and flipped over the 'Bot and kocked over another group of them after he got the right spot. Then he tornado-kicked three Suitroops and side kicked another. "I love this!" He said. "This is better than a pint of Smithwick's!"

Daisuke slashed an incoming Suitroop with his GP Saber. He had forgotten about the disappointment he felt earlier and was now concentrating on beating the Suitroops and enjoying the euphoria of the suit. A Suitroop brought it sword down on Daisuke, but he parried the attack and kicked the Suitroop. He slashed at another Suitroop, then spun around like a top and struck several Suitroops in succession. He stopped long enough to let the robots fall to the ground and fall to pieces. A small, sharp feeling of pain in his back jolted him back into reality and he spun around and slashed the Suitroop that attacked him. The Suitroop fell to the ground twitching. Daisuke leapt into the air and kicked a Suitroop in the head, then brought his Sonic Saber down on another Suitroop, knocking it out of commission. Two Suitroops charged Daisuke, but were met by a reverse roundhouse kick from Daisuke, then a sidekick. "I am unstoppable," he declared. "You cannot defeat me!"

With two Suitroops coming at her and three behind, Maria backflipped behind the Suitroops, catching the both of them off guard. The Suitroops looked for Maria before she kicked them both, knocking their heads off. Two more Suitroops charged Maria, but she made a spin move and dodged the incoming Suitroops. One tried to kick her, but she blocked the kick with her own leg, then reverse roundhouse kicking the same robot onto its back. Then in rapid-fire succession, kick, punch, kick, butterfly kick, chop. Five Suitroops went down like flies. A Suitroop's punch came for her, but she dodged the punch and just as quickly kicked the Suitroop in its chest. Two Suitroops brought their short swords down on her, but she blocked both swords with her left arm. From there, she kicked both robots and then spun around to counter an incoming Suitroop attack, which she easily blocked and countered with a powerful punch. "This is incredible!" She said. "I love it!"

Hitmoi backflipped five times, each time striking a Suitroop in the 'chin'. A Suitroop swung its sword at her, but she dodged the staff, and countered with a punch to the robot's gut. She acrobatically leaped over two Suitroops, and then kicked one Suitroop into the other. With three Suitroops bearing down on her, she spun around and delivered three kicks in quick succession to each Suitroop coming at her. Another Suitroop attacked her, but she took care of it with a quick jab and a reverse roundhouse kick. Then she back-flipped over a car and kicked a Suitroop away. A Suitroop tried to give her an uppercut, but she dodged that, too and backflipped and kicked the robot's 'jaw'. Hitomi's acrobatic style caused the much more ground-based Suitroops to become disoriented at her style of fighting. A Suitroop again brought its sword down on her, which missed by a mile as she dodged easily and gave it a sidekick in its ribs. "Oooh! If only my mom could see this!" She said.

"Alright, ugly, it's your turn!" Sean said as the others gathered around him. They had beaten the Suitroops and were now ready to confront Rhinotaur.

"You think you can defeat me?" Rhinotaur taunted. "You don't have what it takes!"

"You sure about that?" Sean asked.

"Take this!" Rhinotaur yelled. Panels on his bodies opened up and revealed several gems. "FIRE!" Blue balls of energy were launched from Rhinotaur's body and the blasts exploded in front of the Rangers, sending them flying.

"Dammit!" Sean shouted. "Regroup, now!"

"What was that?" asked Maria. "Was that magic?"

"Any ideas?" Kevin asked.

"Not exactly," said Sean. "But we could try encircling him."

"Let's try it," said Hitomi.

"Alright then," said Sean. "Encircle him and make sure he doesn't have a chance to escape. It might seem silly, but it might work. Got it?"

"_Got it!_" The Rangers circled Rhinotaur and prepared to attack. Sean went first, unleashing a barrage of kicks and punches at the monster. His aggressive style seemed to be working, as he had Rhinotaur on the defensive and struggling to fight back, even though most of Sean's attacks weren't hitting. However, something worked, because Sean managed to land a powerful uppercut on Rhinotaur, sending the monster flying backwards and sparks flying, too. That's when Kevin came in. Using a mixed martial arts-influenced style, Kevin punched Rhinotaur hard in rapid-fire succession, leaving him up to Daisuke.

Daisuke swung his Grand Prix Sword at Rhinotaur, spinning around several times to get more power into his swing. His final strike sent Rhinotaur flying backwards. Maria came next. She flew in, giving the monster an arial sidekick and then a reverse roundhouse kick, leaving him to Hitomi. Hitomi dodged the swing of Rhinotaur's arms by backflipping, before striking the monster with a swift kick; that left him open for Sean, who flew in and kicked Rhinotaur with a perfectly executed butterfly kick.

Rhinotaur staggered backwards, caught off guard by the Rangers' attacks. "You bastards got lucky!" The cyborg said.

"Keep talkin'!" Sean said.

"I'll show you! RAAAAHHH!" Rhinotaur fired some energy balls from his eyes at the Rangers, but the five of them dodged the blast before having to do it again. Now the Rangers were looking for ideas.

"What do we do know?" Daisuke asked, apparently trying to catch Sean off guard. But Sean kept his composure.

"He must have some kind of weakness," said Sean. "Colonel, is there anyway to scan him?"

"Your visor includes a built-in scan feature," said Col. Greene. "It might be able to pick up something."

"Got it!" Sean said. "Scan!" Sean examined Rhinotaur's body, looking for any abnormalities that might be a weakness. It seemed to be fruitless, until-"Wait, I've got one!" He said. "There's some circuitry that's been exposed. I'm not sure, but if we concentrate our fire on it, it might destroy him."

"Are you sure about that?" Daisuke asked. "What if you're wrong?"

"We won't know unless we try," said Sean. The Rangers lined up in front of Rhinotaur.

"Back for more?" He taunted. Sean stayed calm.

"Octane Blasters, ready!"

"_Ready!_" The Rangers drew their Octane Blasters-save for Daisuke, who just changed it from his Sonic Saber-and pointed them at Rhinotaur.

"You think your puny firearms can stop me?" Rhinotaur taunted. "Go ahead, make my day!"

"Aim! FIRE!" The Rangers fired their Octane Blasters at Rhinotaur, striking him in the spot that Sean identified using his scan. Sparks flew from the spot, apparently confirming the hypothesis that it was Rhinotaur's weak spot. The cyborg screamed as the blasters hit their mark. When they were done, the Rangers turned around and put their blasters in the holsters. Behind them, Rhinotaur fell to the ground, his body crackling with sparks, an unstable piece of machinery. When he hit the ground, he exploded in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics. As this happened, the Rangers posed in confident victory.

With their job done, the Rangers were ready to power down. "_Power down!_" the suits disappeared from their bodies in a flash of light, revealing their civilian guises. With the suits' powers gone for now, the group staggered, as they were still not used to the fantastic power of the suits. But that didn't matter. Today, they had saved Shibuya. And the crowd that watched them let them know of their appreciation of the Rangers' service, giving the group a round of applause and cheers.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

When they got back to the base, the Rangers were again greeted with cheers and applause at their heroic deeds. The Rangers soaked in their moment, appreciating the appreciation. But then Col. Greene stood before them.

"Ten...HUT!" A soldier yelled. The group stood at attention. Eleven years of martial arts training and military discipline, go figure.

"At ease," said Col. Greene. The base staff got into an at ease stance. "That was impressive for your first fight. I think you've sent a wake-up call to the enemy, telling them that their path to conquest will not be easy. But you path to defeat them will not be easy, either." The Rangers silently groaned. "But, as time goes on, you will become better. And you will gain new weapons, too. But just remember: your old lives are over, know that. You cannot go back to the way things were before you morphed for the first time, understood?" The Rangers nodded. "Good. Now then, I guess I'll try to answer some of your questions. Yes, Sean?"

"Yeah, I've got a question," said Sean. "I noticed that for some reason, the suits seemed to be designed after the Arsenal F.C. home shirt for some reason, including the pants having those stripes. Why is that?"

"Well, the person who designed the appearance of the suits was a fan of Arsenal FC," said Col. Greene. "He even admitted it."

"That explains it," said Sean.

"Any other questions?" Col. Greene asked. Kevin raised his hand. "Yes?"

"So what happens now?" He said.

"Now," said Col. Greene. "You're going to have to stay here in Japan." Sean, Kevin and Maria groaned in disappointment. They had been wanting to go home.

"I know, I know," said Col. Greene. "You might feel homesick. But since the enemy knows where you are, they might send more monsters after you, so you'll have to stay here; although if they ever send any other monsters anywhere else, we'll send you there. Yes, you?" He said to Hitomi.

"What are these new weapons you were talking about?" She said.

"You'll see," said Col. Greene. "Because there are currently no threats at the moment, you won't be able to see them. But Project Ranger is not just about the suits. When the time comes, you will have the chance to use your arsenal. Yes, you?" He said to Maria.

"So now what happens?" She said.

"I can't answer that," said Col. Greene. "Not because I don't want to, but because I just don't know what will happen. So now questions are over. You five are dismissed." The soldier again called for attention. When given the ok, the group left the room. "Oh, by the way! I also lied about there being no internship. Aparicio, O'Callahan, and O'Donnell, you three start on Monday."

The three of them groaned, obviously unhappy about the situation and grumbled while they left the room. But Daisuke stayed in the room with Col. Greene. "Mr. Miyazawa, is there anything you'd like to discuss?" Col. Greene aksed.

"Yes, there is," said Daisuke. What he didn't notice was Sean listening in on the conversation.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:

"WHAT! They destroyed Rhinotaur?" A figure in the room shouted. "How is it that five insignificant humans were able to destroy one of our best soldiers!"

"I do not know Floki," said another voice; a woman. "But this seems interesting. We haven't had a challenge like this in years. I think I might enjoy this. What do you think, Ingvar?"

"Perfect, Túrelie!" The previously-mentioned Ingvar said. "I've been wanting a challenge for a long time! This will be fun."

"Ingvar!" Another voice came; the leader, apparently.

"My apologies, Commander Ragnar!" Ingvar said.

"Apology accepted, Ingvar," said Commander Ragnar. "This new challenge should be interesting. I believe this may be a test that God put in front of us to challenge our faith."

"I agree!" Floki said. "They'll be fun!"

"As long as God is on our side, I am more than willing," Túrelie said.

"It doesn't matter to me!" Floki said. "Any challenge sounds good!"

"Well then," said Ragnar. "It seems as if God works in mysterious ways."

[][][]

"That was so amazing!" Hitomi said as the group left the base. "I want to do it again!"

"Energetic little lady, isn't she?" Kevin whispered to Maria. Maria nodded her head in agreement. "Hey, Sean, hurry up!" He called to Sean who had drooped behind them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!" Sean said as he approached his Irish friend and the Venezuelan and Japanese ladies.

"What were you waiting for?" Kevin asked.

"I'm waitin' for Rich Boy Miyazawa," said Sean. "There are some things I need to discuss with him." Sure enough, Daisuke showed up and walked past the group. Sean intended to wait for a while to confront Daisuke. When they were almost to the garage where the car that would take them back to Shibuya was waiting, Sean made his move. "Hey Rich Boy," he said to grab Daisuke's attention. "What were you and the Colonel discussin'?"

"Nothing of your concern," said Daisuke.

"I wasn't done talking to you, rich boy!" Sean said. "What were you and the Colonel talking about!"

"Sean!" Maria said, not wanting this to escalate any further.

"Well, rich boy? Are you mad that you're not Red Ranger?" Daisuke stopped in his tracks and looked back at the American. Apparently, Sean had hit something.

"That's none of your business, American," said Daisuke.

"Considering your attitude, it might be," he replied. "What is it?"

Daisuke knew he had to break his silence. Sean apparently knew too much about his knowledge of the situation. "I was guaranteed a leadership position in Project Ranger," he said. Kevin, Maria, and Hitomi looked at each other in shock. But Sean simply stood there with his arms crossed. "And then, I morph and find out I have the Green suit, while the American here gets the Red suit, instead."

"Oh, boo-frickin'-hoo!" Sean said. "We all suffer disappointments in life, so deal with it!"

"You do not understand!" Daisuke shouted, getting up in Sean's face. "My family was depending on me becoming a leader in this Project!"

"Oh, so you knew about this the whole time!" Sean said. The other Rangers looked on dumbfounded at this revelation. How the hell did Daisuke know about Project Ranger? "Did Hitomi know about this?"

"No, she had no knowledge of Project Ranger," said Daisuke.

"Okay, then," said Sean. "Well now that you told us, it would have been nice if you had warned us beforehand of what we were getting into!"

"Well I had to stay silent and play dumb!" Daisuke said. "That was part of the agreement!"

"So you think that because you made an agreement with the higher-ups in this Project that they would automatically give you a leadership position and one of the conditions was to stay silent about it? Well guess what, too bad!"

"I still don't understand why you were made leader!" Daisuke retorted.

"Well, gee, let me think, probably because they thought I was the right man for the job!" Sean replied. "You saw what happened against that monster! You panicked! And I took command in that instant! Heroes aren't chosen by agreements, rich boy," he said. "They're chosen and/or made in moments that test them. I took command because you thought you had it handed to you on a silver platter and you panicked when the pressure was on. So, the morpher gave me the Red suit." But then he changed his tone of voice. "Or, maybe it's simply because you picked the wrong morpher instead of the one that had the Red suit. Either way, I'm Red Ranger, so I'm in charge, GOT THAT!"

"You're not in charge of me," Daisuke said in a defiant tone of voice.

"What did you say?" Sean asked. His anger levels were reaching their peak. If Daisuke went any further, Sean might deck the guy. Luckily, Hitomi intervened.

"Um, guys, why don't we stop fighting?" She said. "I know! Why don't we get something to eat?" Hitomi's strategy worked, as Sean's stomach growled in that instant.

"Come to think of it, we haven't even eaten yet," said Sean, his tone of voice changing. "Man, I'm so hungry I could eat whatever _sumo_ guys eat!"

"You know, there are places you can get _sumo_ food!" Hitomi said. "And I know a great place to get some! The man who owns it is a friend of my dad!"

"Sounds good to me," said Sean. He turned to Kevin. "Hey Kevin, does _Sumo_ grub sound good to you?"

"Sounds great!" Kevin said. "I'm in!"

"Me too," said Maria.

"Well then, it's settled," said Hitomi. "We'll go to Godai-san's for lunch!"

[][][]

"Hitomi-chan!" The previously-mentioned Godai-san said in Japanese as Hitomi entered his restaurant.

"Godai-san, it's so good to see you!" Hitomi said in Japanese. As per Japanese etiquette, the two bowed to each other.

"Well, we know that they know each other," Sean said to Kevin. "At least that's clear."

"Godai-san, I want you to meet some people," said Hitomi. She switched to English so the rest of the group could understand what she was saying. "This is Sean O' Callahan, from America."

"What's up?"

"This is Kevin O' Donnell from Ireland,"

"Hi."

"And this is Maria Aparicio, from Venzuela."

_"Hola._"

"And you already know Daisuke, so I guess we're all introduced!" Hitomi said. Godai-san appeared to be sometime in his early to mid to late-40s, maybe somewhere in his 50s or 60s. He was a little heavy-set, probably around 250 lbs. And he had a smile that just _screamed _that he was friendly. And it wasn't a smile to cover some hidden and dark pain, either. It was a real smile that showed that he really was a friendly person. Of course, since Hitomi knew Godai-san, she'd probably know if he had some sort of hidden pain.

"I'm glad to meet you all," said Godai-san in english. "Any friend of Hitomi-chan is a friend of mine!"

"Well that's good," said Sean. "Can we get some food now? I'm starvin'!"

"My apologies," said Godai-san. "I'll get you a place to sit."

"So Sean-san," said Godai-san. Sean still wasn't used to Japanese honorifics. "Do you like baseball?"

"Well, I'm an American, so no, I don't like it," he said sarcastically. "Of course I do! But I'm a hockey player."

"Relax, Sean-san," said Godai-san.

"You'd think he'd know, since I am wearing a White Sox shirt," Sean said to Kevin

"He's probably just trying to start a conversation," Kevin replied.

"What did you say?" Godai-san asked, since they were whispering.

"Nothing," said Sean.

"Kevin-san, were in Ireland are you from? Are you from the countryside?" Godai-san asked. It's an innocent question.

"No, I'm not," replied Kevin in an uninterested tone. He was waiting for the drinks. "I'm from Dublin."

"I'm sorry," said Godai-san. "I was only curious."

"No problem," said Kevin. "So Godai-san, how long have you known-what's your name-Hitomi for?"

"I've known her and Daisuke for most of their lives," said Godai-san. "Their mother knew my wife very well."

"So it's a family connection," said Maria.

"Exactly," said Godai-san. "Hitomi's the gentler, but energetic girl—"

"Who looks like a pop singer," said Sean.

"That too," said Godai-san, "While Daisuke is in a sense, more traditional. He's been raised to take over as the family patriarch. Hitomi was also meant to be groomed as a traditional bride, but when she was picked for this... thing when she was nine, things changed."

"He must be talking about Project Ranger," Sean said to Kevin.

"Daisuke was also chosen," said Godai-san. "He appeared to be wrapped up in—ah, your food's here!"

"Finally!" Sean said. The waiter-Godai-san's wife Hikari-brought the group their food, which is called _chankonabe_, a stew of chicken, fish, _miso_, or beef-and a lot of calories (How the hell do you think those _sumo_wrestlers got so big, anyway?). The food also came with a side dish of rice or whatever the patrons wanted.

"Wow!" Said Hitmoi. "This looks so good! Shall we begin?"

"_Itadakimasu!_" Daisuke, Hitomi and Godai-san said. Sean, Kevin, and Maria, however, were confused about just what exactly the three of them said. Kevin looked at Sean, who simply shrugged at him as if to say, 'I don't know either'. But the three of them dug in anyway.

"Oh, man that was good!" Sean said after he finished his _chankonabe_. "I think I'm gonna be full for two days now!"

"No kiddin'!" Kevin said in response. "I don't think Grandma Deirdre ever made a stew like this!" Sean laughed at Kevin's comment. He was referring to his Irish grandmother Deirdre O' Donnell.

"I don't think she'd be too happy about that," Sean replied. "If she heard you saying someone else made a stew better than hers she'd be heartbroken."

"True that," said Kevin.

"So getting back to our discussion of Daisuke and Hitomi," Godai-san said. "I will have to ask you a few questions about yourselves."

"Why?" Sean asked. "If the discussion's about them, why talk to us?"

"Curiosity," said Godai-san. "What do you do, Sean?"

"I'm a student-athlete at the University of Wisconsin-Madison," said Sean. "I'm taking journalism as a major, minoring in anthropology and I guess I'll be interested in this place. Maybe I can write something about it. Apart from that, I'm a hockey player. I was captain of my junior hockey team until last year when I had to leave because I was too old. Now I just play winger for the Badgers." Daisuke glanced at Sean at the mention of the word "captain", which he never expected out of him.

"I'm also in university," said Kevin, "But I spent three years in the Irish Defense Forces. I just graduated from University College Dublin but I'm taking postgraduate classes at UCD. I'm studying literature."

"And Maria?" asked Godai-san.

"I'm also a university student," said Maria. "I'm currently at the Federal University of Rio De Janiero. I want to be a teacher."

"Wait, Rio?" Sean asked. "What the hell are you doing there? I thought you're from Venezuela?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," said Maria.

"You can talk about it with me," said Hitomi.

"Don't even think about it," said Maria. "I won't discuss it, not even with you."

"Oh, that's not a nice thing to say to a friend!" Hitomi said.

"We still don't know each other that well," said Maria.

"Well then, let's start getting to know each other!" Hitomi said. The two continued their conversation for the rest of their time there while the guys continued to converse amongst themselves.

"Traditional, huh?" Sean asked. "It's that why you're so damn silent?"

"That's none of your business," said Daisuke. "I come from one of the most powerful families in Japan. You should respect me."

"Well I don't!" Sean retorted.

"Could you please stop fighting?" Godai-san asked. Sean and Daisuke stopped. "Now then, let's have a pleasant conversation."

:-:-:-:**PRGPX**:-:-:-:

"Well, that was good," Sean said as they left.

"I'll say," said Kevin.

"Come on, let's get back to the hotel," said Sean.

"But how are we going to get there?" Maria asked.

"Didn't they say they'd give us money for subway tickets?" Kevin added.

"I think they did," said Sean. "I guess we should use that money."

About 2 hours later (don't ask why) the Rangers returned to the hotel they were all staying at. Sean and Kevin were in their room, Daisuke and Hitomi were in theirs while Maria had her own. But it was here that the gravity of the situation hit them. As they looked over the city of Tokyo, including the Tower, Sean and Kevin realized what they were getting into. As Sean looked at his AcceleMorpher, he thought about what had happened earlier in the day. It was a pretty anti-climactic way to end a pretty crazy day. "Things are going to be different Kevin," he said.

"How?"

"Well for one, we could get killed doing this," Sean said. Kevin choked. They could die? Obviously that was never addressed in _Power Rangers_-except in the _Lost Galaxy _season.

"I see what you mean," said Kevin

"Kevin," Sean said. "We can't go back to the way things were. We have a duty now. And we have to fulfill it."

"Do you have any regrets, though?" Kevin asked. Sean answered, but it was not the answer that Kevin expected in a million years. Even though he knew Sean was hot-blooded, there was no way he expected Sean's answer.

"Not a damn one."

_To be continued..._

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX:-:-:-:

A/N: Okay, so how was that? I might as well talk about this, since you're probably wondering what this is about. This is basically the first arc of _Power Rangers GPX_, but redone with the bad guys from the _Supercharged_ myth arc and a few changes to reflect the current state of the series. It's just something I wanted to do; basically revisit where I started and make a couple changes. This in no way changes the main _GPX _storyline _at all_. Instead, it's just a re-do. I'm even thinking about doing a pair of extra chapters just because.

And if you're not sure what the hell I'm talking about, don't worry. You can ask me and I'll fill in the details.

Yes, the designs of the Ranger suits were inspired by the home kits for Arsenal F.C.; I just though they'd look good. I guess it might be kind of difficult to imagine the Arsenal shirt in blue, green, yellow and pink, though. But I'm not a full-blown Gooner. I'm more of a Celtic fan. And the helmet is primarily based on the _Kousoku Sentai Turboranger _helmets with some _Operation Overdrive _elements thrown in.


	4. The Enemy's Attack

Power Rangers GPX, Episode 4: The Enemy's Attack

It was the Sunday since the incident in Shibuya. Since then, rumors about the Rangers had spread like a wildfire in a dry prairie. Many people, who had not seen the Rangers, were skeptical of the reports. For them, the idea of people wearing brightly colored spandex and masks fighting monsters belonged in the realm of children's TV shows or comic books. It also didn't help one bit that nobody actually thought to capture the darn thing on camera! But for those who witnessed it, the experience was as real as it could get. Some people, when they heard about it, immediately thought of the United Nations and tried to ask any UN official about the Rangers. But any official would either not ask the question or coyly say, 'sure, we've heard of them'. And that would be it, usually.

The Rangers, however, didn't really care. They did their job, and that was enough. Although, in a sense, they did like the attention the rumors gave them. Since the Shibuya incident, they had moved out of their hotel and into a townhouse in the Hongo district paid for by the Miyazawa Company. It had taken them a short time to move in, and what had impressed the Rangers the most was how the UN and Miyazawa Company managed to move their stuff in so quickly, especially considering where it came from.

Right now Sean was letting loose on a punching bag outside the townhouses. It was a beautiful late May day out, not a cloud in the sky, and the temperature somewhere in the 70s. The bag itself began to come loose from the chain that held it to its post. Kevin must have been going to town on it earlier.

Sean kept letting loose, eventually weakening the chain severely. He then gave it a powerful reverse roundhouse kick with his right leg, letting out a powerful _kiai_. The chain broke and the bag fell to the ground, spilling its contents all over. "Damn, Kevin needs to be more careful with those things," he said to no one in particular. He then noticed a trio of ladies about his age across the street that was looking at him. No doubt because of what he did to the punching bag. He gave them a little wave and they reacted in an excited manner. Sean watched them leave and grabbed his towel, leaving the remnants of the punching bag behind.

He walked up the steps to the townhouse, inserting they key into the keyhole. But before he could go in, he noticed something on the ground. It was a brown, square package and had the words 'TO THE RANGERS' written on it; must have been from the UN. He picked it up and gave it a little look before noticing Maria walk up to their door, almost shoving him out of the way before she noticed the punching bag. "You need to be more careful with that," she said.

"Kevin did most of the work," he replied. "I just finished it off."

"That's what, 3 now?" Maria asked. "Why don't you just get a punching dummy?"

"That'll probably happen," Sean replied. That's when he noticed Maria was also carrying something, and it wasn't a square box, but a shopping bag. "What's that you got there?" he asked,

"Oh, this?" She said. "You want to see it?"

"Uh, sure," Sean replied. She reached into the bag for a moment before pulling the item out. Sean covered his mouth and reacted in bewilderment at what Maria pulled out. It was an itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny yellow polka dot bikini. Sean covered his mouth in reaction and practically snorted. "Are you actually gonna _wear _that?" he said.

"Yeah, so?" She replied. "What's so bad about that?"

"I'm not sure if this is the country to wear something like that," he said. "Especially if you're gonna be sunbathing."

"I'm not sunbathing in this!" She replied. "I'm wearing this to the beach!" She said with an enthusiastic tone before going back into her house, leaving Sean standing in front of his door with a bewildered look on his face. He collected himself and shook his head. There was no way she'd wear that, although she'd probably look sexy…

A-HEM. Moving on. Sean and Maria went back into the townhouse, taking his shoes off as he went in. It was a combination Western-Japanese townhouse, mostly with elements of an American home, but with some Japanese features. The five bedrooms were on the second and third floors, and the kitchen and living room were obviously on the first. Sean walked over to the TV room and sat on one of the couches, setting the package on the coffee table before turning on the TV, looking for something to watch. But at one point, he got a whiff of himself. "BLEGH! I smell like shite!" He said to himself. "I need a shower!"

But the bathroom, which was on the second floor, he did not like. Particularly because there was no shower curtain and a dinky little faucet right near the bathtub. Like hell he was going to use that thing! But he needed a shower anyway, so he though he might as well use the showerhead anyway.

[][][]

"Our forces are ready," said Ingvar. "Shall we announce our presence?"

"Hmmm, an interesting proposition, Ingvar," said Ragnar. "Túrelie, what do you think?"

"I think I agree with Ingvar," said Túrelie. "We should show them what'd they're dealing with."

"Well, Túrelie agrees," said Ragnar. "Floki, what do you think?"

"Who cares?" He said. "I want to have some fun!"

"Well, now," said Ragnar. "Floki seems to want to go himself."

"In fact, why don't we all go down," said Ingvar. "It would be fun."

"I agree with Ingvar," said Túrelie. "We must reveal ourselves."

"I like the idea, Ingvar," said Ragnar. "Any differing opinions? Anyone? Then it's settled. We shall announce our presence to the humans."

"But what about those 'Power Rangers' that took out Rhinotaur?" Túrelie asked. "We may have to deal with them."

"Then why don't we deal with them directly?" Ragnar asked.

"I like that idea," said Túrelie. "Where did they fight Rhinotaur?"

"In a city called 'Tokyo'," said Ingvar. "That's probably where they're based."

"Then we will attack Tokyo," said Ragnar. "Prepare to attack."

"Yes, Commander!" Floki said.

"It will be done," said Ingvar.

"I very much look forward to it," said Túrelie.

"Good," said Ragnar. "Those humans have been naïve for far too long."

[][][]

Sean got out of the shower ten minutes later. He was wearing a bathrobe this time, since he didn't want to smell bad after wearing those sweaty clothes. As he walked to his room, he noticed that Daisuke was back and walking towards him. Since he had no intention of talking to the Rich Boy, who was wearing a green shirt, he kept his head down and walked past him. But Rich Boy had other ideas. "Did you use the _furo_?" He asked.

"If you mean that bathtub, then no," Sean replied. "Why?"

"It's polite to use it," said Daisuke. "In my family, no matter what, we always used it. In fact, it's what we do in Japan, to use the _furo_."

"There's also no way I'm using that dinky-ass faucet right near the tub," said Sean. He rubbed the back of his head. "I kept hitting the back of my head on it."

"Okay then," said Daisuke. "By the way, did you knock that punching bag down?"

"Yeah, I did," he replied. "So?"

"That's three already," said Daisuke. "You need to go easy on those."

"Then tell that to Kevin," Sean replied. "And maybe we should just get a training dummy."

"Well, for once I agree," said Daisuke. "But you should still be more careful."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sean said as he walked to his room. "Oh, by the way, your sister got a new bikini. She's probably gonna look _very _sexy in it."

"WHAT! ?" Daisuke yelled, offended that anyone would talk about his sister like that.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm just joshin' you, Rich Boy!" Sean said. "Maria's the one with the bikini, not your sister." Daisuke could only stare bewildered as Sean went back into his room, still cackling after getting him so mad.

A few minutes later, Sean stepped out of his room, this time wearing a Chicago Blackhawks t-shirt and a pair of shorts. He was combing his hair, parting it down the middle. He went downstairs to see Kevin stuffing the fridge; must have gotten back from his grocery trip. "What'd you get?" He asked.

"Tea, beer, meat, cereal, et cetera, et cetera, and some apples," Kevin replied, tossing one to Sean. Kevin was wearing a Dublin GAA shirt, since their color was blue. Sean washed his apple under the sink while he asked,

"Do mind going easy on those punching bags? Rich Boy wasn't too happy when I knocked the third one off its chain." He said 'Rich Boy' even though Daisuke was in the kitchen with them and listening quite intently. In fact, he knew that Daisuke was there.

"Oh, sorry about that," said Kevin. "I didn't know I was doing so much damage."

Sean took a bite out of his apple and said with some apple in his mouth, "Well then start goin' easy. Although I guess we could get a punching dummy, which is what Maria suggested."

"Then I suppose I'll be more careful," said Kevin. "Oh by the way, did we get any mail?"

"Yeah, we got a package, probably from the UN," said Sean. "It's over on the coffee table." Sean then went over to the coffee table and picked the package up and brought it into the kitchen, placing it on the counter.

"What do you think is in it?" Kevin asked.

"I don't know," Sean said as he grabbed a box cutter. "Let's find out." With care, he cut the tape on the package. Once the tape was gone, he opened it up and took a look inside. Suddenly, he fell backwards. "YYYYAAAAAHHHHH!" He fell on his ass as a green, ball-shaped… thing popped out of the box.

"_Haro! Haro!_" The thing said, bouncing up and down. It had two beady eyes that flashed somewhat. It was about 25% the side of a basketball and there were four circles on the side and it had a line all around it that looked like a mouth in front.

"That the hell is that thing!" Sean said.

"I don't know," said Kevin. "I've never seen it before."

"A Haro, _kawaiiii_!" A voice came from outside the kitchen. The three looked to see Maria and Hitomi enter the room. "It's a robot from a TV show called 'Gundam'."

"A robot from a TV show?" Sean said. "Okay, this is fucked up!"

"But what's it for?" Daisuke asked.

"There's an envelope in the package," said Kevin. "Maybe this will answer it." He opened the envelope, revealing a smaller packet, which looked like a packet for baseball cards and a letter. "It says, 'To the Rangers—this robot, called 'Haro' will be your assistant from now on. It will provide you with communications and access to information on your enemies'. Like that's gonna work. 'Also with you are your Access Cards. These will allow you to access your special weapons'."

"Special weapons?" Sean asked. "I like the sound of that already. I'm assuming those cards are in the packet."

"Only one way to find out," said Maria. Kevin opened to packet to reveal a set of cards that looked like hotel key cards. Five of them were red, blue, green, yellow and pink.

"Those colored cards must be for our 'special weapons'," said Kevin. "These gray ones must be for other things."

"_Haro! Haro! The grey cards are for personal vehicles, Haro Haro._" The little robot said. Sean wasn't too happy about the robot talking.

"I already don't like it," he said.

"I think it's cute," said Hitomi. "Don't mind what Sean says, Haro."

"_Haro, Haro doesn't like me, Haro Haro,_" the robot said while bouncing up and down near Sean. The American wasn't too happy so he took his fist, and once the robot was at the right height, he batted it down, smashing it to the ground. "_Haro, Haro, doesn't like me, Haro Haro._"

"Hey, shut up, you stupid robot!" Sean yelled, clearly irritated by the robot.

"Sean, that's not nice!" Hitomi scolded him. "It's too cute to be treated like that."

"Sean doesn't like cute things," said Kevin. "And neither do I."

"You still need to be careful with that thing," Maria said as she picked it up. "That's most likely some very expensive machinery."

"_Haro Haro, expensive machinery, expensive machinery_—"

"I said shut up, you little piece of shit!" Sean said, clearly irritated. His irritation wouldn't last long, though. Suddenly, a there was a siren and flashing red, which surprised the Rangers.

"What's going on?" Daisuke asked.

"I don't know!" Kevin replied. A screen began to rise from the counter near the package. The screen flickered a bit before the image of Col. Greene showed up.

"Rangers, there's an emergency," he said. "There seems to be an attack going on right now."

"Where?" said Sean.

"It's somewhere in Shinjuku," said Col. Greene. "Your Haro should be able to locate it in your Grand Prix cruiser."

"Oohhh!" Sean groaned. "Wait, GP cruiser?"

"There's a Hummer H2 outside waiting for you to use," said Col. Greene. "That's the Grand Prix cruiser."

"I think I saw it when I got back from grocery shopping," said Kevin.

"Then let's go!" said Sean. The Rangers rushed out of the house at that moment, followed by the Haro. Outside, there was indeed a Hummer H2 that must have arrived sometime before Kevin got back from the store.

"I call shotgun!" Kevin said. The Rangers piled into the Hummer, followed by the Haro—much to Sean's annoyance.

"Stupid robot!" He said. The Haro ignored him and goi into position in what looked like a port to hold it in, and plugging into the Hummer' software.

"_Haro haro, turn cruiser on, Haro Haro." _Sean must have forgotten to turn it on. He fumbled for his Access Card before finding the one that said 'HUMV' on it, slipping it into a slot in the dashboard, then pressed a button where the keys would go. The engine roared to life and Sean smiled as the dashboard came to life too. Then the Haro's head opened up and a holographic map appeared. "_Haro Haro, enemy located, enemy located enemy located. Shinjuku, Shinjuku_."

"Well I guess the little bastard's good for something," said Sean. "Alright, let's go!"

The attack was going on near the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building in Shinjuku. A swarm of Suitroops descended upon the area, attacking anyone and anything in their path. The crowd of people in the area panicked and ran for cover and safety. But many people were struck down where they were, while some were chased down. But many people were able to escape. The JSDF soon arrived and set up to fight the Suitroops. They did a decent job, but the sheer number of Suitroops made it difficult for them to actually be effective until the tanks came in. Then they actually did a decent job.

"There's too many of them!" One soldier said.

"Don't let up!" He yelled. 'There is now way we're going to let them through!" A tank fired a shot at a bunch of Suitroops. The round struck the 'bots, blowing them sky-high. But there were more of them coming.

"These things just keep coming!" The same soldier said.

"Hold your line! Hold your—" he was interrupted when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see five young people all wearing clothes colored red, blue, green, pink and yellow. He felt it must have been the UN team.

The one wearing the Chicago Bulls t-shirt said, "We'll take it from here," showing his bracelet at the same time. The commander recognized the bracelet. They were the UN team.

"It's about time," he said. "We'll take care of the civvies, you handle them."

"Gladly," said the American. "Let's go!"

"Everyone, fall back, let's get the civilians out of here!" The commander said. The soldiers fell back and began to get the civilians out of the area while the Rangers lined up side by side to confront the Suitroops.

"Hey bolt-brains!" Sean said to get their attention. It seemed to work, because they all turned to face the Rangers. "I suggest you stop right there or we'll send you to the scrap heap where you belong!" The Suitroops turned their attention to the Rangers and prepared to attack. The Rangers, meanwhile, also prepared to fight. The Suitroops were just about to begin their attack when suddenly—

"My my, how rude." The Suitroops stopped dead in their tracks and stiffened on the spot. The Rangers looked at each other in confusion at what had just happened.

"Who are you!" Sean demanded. "Show yourself!"

"My, aren't we impatient?" The voice replied. "Very well, then." The Suitroops opened up a hole to reveal four figures standing in front of the Rangers. The Rangers looked on in amazement at—

"Who are they supposed to be?" Hitomi said. The other Rangers gave her a look of annoyance.

"You insolent girl!" The leader shouted back. "I am Commander Ragnar!"

"And I'm Javert!" Kevin replied, prompting Sean and Maria to snicker.

"You dare mock me?" Ragnar asked, "We are here to annihilate you humans!" He wore a Prussian-ish military uniform; a grey drab color but punctuated by what looked like medals. His face was stern and angry, his blue eyes glared at the Rangers. And yet, he wore a helmet covering much of his blonde hair.

"Fat chance!" Sean snapped back.

"You typical humans!" Ragnar replied.

"Man, this guy's really starting to piss me off," said Sean. "What the hell do you want?"

"Again, so rude," said Ragnar. "You humans have ravaged our planet for too long! It is time we taught your miserable excuse for a species a lesson!"

"Yeah, sure whatever!" Sean shouted back.

"Now allow me to introduce my associates," he said. "To my left is my associate, General Túrelie." He pointed to a woman who was staring them down. Wavy red hair came out from under her helmet, but she wore the same grey drab uniform as Ragnar.

"I'll bet she's a bitch," Maria said to herself.

"I don't like her," Hitomi said.

"To her left is Floki." He gestured to a young man, who at least from what they could tell, had a very insane look in his eyes. Again, his helmet covered his ears, and they couldn't tell what his hair color was, but he was lanky and wore the same uniform as Ragnar and Túrelie.

"He can _pog mo thoin_," said Kevin.

"And finally, to my right is my second-in-command, Field Marshall Ingvar." Ingvar had green hair and a green, Chinese-esque shirt with white pants. Much like Ragnar, he too was handsome and looked as if he was around the age of 17-23. He simply nodded when he was introduced.

"I don't like him," said Daisuke.

"Well now, now that we're all introduced," said Ragnar. "It would only be polite to inquire as to who you are."

"Gladly," said Sean. "We," he held up his hand, showing his AcceleMorpher to the enemy. "…Are your worst nightmare."

"Hm, so you have toys," said Ragnar. "How interesting. Now then surrender or we will destroy you."

"Hey, shut up!" Sean yelled. "You're gonna regret that, cuz we're gonna kick your asses!"

"I'd like to see that," said Ingvar.

"Oh, it is _so _on. _READY!"_

"_Ready! GPX, Start it up!" _There was a flash of light that temporarily blinded the Elves. When they looked again, they saw the humans, but this time, they were in their Ranger suits.

"Well, this just got interesting," said Túrelie.

"This will give us an excellent challenge," said Ingvar.

"Alright, this is gonna be the last time we do the roll call!" Sean said, "Because I already hate it. GPX, Red!"

Kevin: "GPX, Blue!"

Daisuke: "GPX, Green!"

Maria: "_GPX, Amarillo!"_

Hitomi: "GPX, Pink!"

All: "_Power Rangers! GPX!_" There was an explosion behind them, which added to the effect of the moment. The enemy was mildly impressed.

"Well, so _they _are the Power Rangers," said Túrelie. "This should be interesting."

"I concur," said Ingvar.

"Grrr, these guys are _really _starting to piss me off!" Sean said angrily.

"Take it easy Red," said Col. Greene. "You should be able to access your persona weapons by pressing a button on your belt buckle. Is that understood?"

"Got it!" Sean said. He and the other Rangers pressed their belt buckle and their weapons materialized in front of them. "GT Sword!" It was a sword with a red-colored handle and a long blade. The handle was long enough for Sean to wield it with two hands.

Kevin: "Touring Cannon!" This was a good-sized weapon, which was car-shaped, but with a gun barrel in the front.

Daisuke: "Mountain Staff!" Daisuke's staff was simpler, being a green-colored _naginata_-like weapon.

Maria: "Haz Daggers!" Maria produced a pair of yellow-colored daggers.

Hitomi: "Am Bow!" Hitomi's weapon was a white-colored bow with a few bits of pink that complimented the white.

"My, so they have toys," Ragnar said to himself. "Now, we don't want things to get out of hand here. I'll tell you what," he said as he stepped forward. "If you hand over your weapons and surrender, we may keep you alive when we eliminate the human race. What do you say to that?" The civilians who were still in the area gasped at Ragnar's sudden ultimatum. But Sean had other thoughts.

"Yeah, I got something to say to that!" he said. "_Pog mo thoin_!"

"What does 'pog mo thoin' mean?" Ragnar said.

"It means kiss my ass!" Sean snapped. "You want something better? Here it is: you can destroy our species OVER OUR DEAD BODIES!"

"Well, he's eager to fight," said Ingvar.

"Fine then," Ragnar said with some anger. "You have just doomed yourselves. Prepare to be destroyed." He and his associates also had some weapons materialize. Ragnar had a sword and Ingvar a staff. "Prepare to die."

"Bring it!" Sean shouted. "Let's go!"

"_Right!_" The Rangers charged the enemy who stood where they were. The two sides met and began fighting each other.

Sean fought Ragnar. The two leaders squared off in the middle of the street, Sean using his GT Saber and Ragnar using his own. The two weapons clashed as they struck, with the two fighters grunting and giving _kiais _all the while. Ragnar hacked at Sean, which the Ranger blacked several times before going on the offensive. Ragnar swung his sword at Sean, but he dodged it by jumping up in the air and flipping backwards. Sean then slashed at Ragnar, but every slash of his was blocked by Ragnar's weapon. "You think _that _will defeat me?" Ragnar said.

"Not entirely," Sean replied as he roundhouse kicked him; even though he missed. Sean then tried to punch Ragnar, but was caught off guard when Ragnar flipped him over on his back. Sean didn't even have time to recover as Ragnar grabbed him threw him against the side of a building, causing some civilians to run away. Sean slammed into the wall, and despite the suit being practically invincible, drew a groan of pain from him.

Kevin didn't fare so well, either. He probably should have just fought Floki without his cannon, since Floki kept on smashing him. "Come on, fight me!" He said. Kevin tried to get a shot off, but being smaller than him, he was much faster than Kevin and dodged the shot before knocking the cannon out of his hands. Of course, now, it just meant Kevin could fight him with his own hands.

He tried to punch Floki in the chest, but small guy dodged it easily. Even worse, Kevin fell forward. "My turn," Floki said sadistically. He tried to grab Kevin, but the Irishman got out of the way quickly, not intending to be beaten that easily. He managed to pick up his cannon and fired a shot at Floki. And this one actually hit! Too bad all it did was make him angry.

"Uh, oh," Kevin said as Floki charged him. The small guy grabbed Kevin, picked him up and threw Kevin over to the same wall Sean had been thrown to. And much like Sean, he felt the pain. "This is not looking good," said Kevin.

"Tell me about it," Sean replied before getting up and going back to face Ragnar.

Daisuke only fared slightly better. Despite being second-in-command, Ingvar wasn't the best fighter; but only slightly. Even then, he was still beating Daisuke. Daisuke tried to use his staff to trip up Ingvar, but he dodged said attack before attacking Daisuke with his short staff, which contained a blue, glowing gem. "You think a staff like that will work?" Ingvar said.

"It should," Daisuke replied before charging Ingvar. Ingvar blocked several of Daisuke's attacks before, like Kevin and Floki, knocked Daisuke's staff out of his hands. Daisuke responded by drawing his Sonic Saber and attacked Ingvar. Ingvar blocked Daisuke's attacks, before attacking Daisuke himself, which the Japanese man could barely defend. Daisuke instead tried to turn the tables by roundhouse kicking Ingvar. It seemed to be successful, if only slightly. But Ingvar aimed his staff at Daisuke and a flash of light sent Daisuke back to the same wall where Sean and Kevin landed.

Hitomi and Maria, meanwhile, double-teamed Túrelie. Maria attacked first, thrusting her daggers at Túrelie, but the woman blocked them with her fan. Sure is an interesting choice of weaponry. Hitomi fired a few shots with her bow while Túrelie was distracted. Too bad Túrelie noticed them and she dodged those arrows. " You think _that _will stop me?" She said.

"I _really _don't like that laugh!" Maria said to Hitomi.

"Let's try to take her on separate sides," said Hitomi. 'You attack from the front, I'll attack from the rear."

"That might work," Maria said. "Let's try it." The two got into position, Maria in front of Túrelie, Hitomi behind. Túrelie looked at both of them as if they were crazy.

"What are you thinking?" She said.

"Haz Daggers!" Maria charged Túrelie and tried to swipe at her with her daggers, but Túrelie dodged each and every one of them. While she was distracted, Hitomi fired her bow at her, but again, Túrelie dodged them. She wasn't going to tolerate Hitomi anymore, she went straight for her.

"Come here!" She said as she attacked Hitomi. She kicked Hitmoi several times before finally sending her backwards. Maria rushed in, but like Hitomi, Túrelie dispatched her quickly. "Is that the best you could do?" She said.

"This is not good!" Maria said to Hitomi. They tried to rush Túrelie, but she threw a roundhouse kick that slammed the two of them into a wall, but this one was not the same as the one Sean, Kevin and Daisuke had been slammed into.

"I grow tired of this!" Ragnar said as the Rangers regrouped in the street. "We thought you would be a challenge!"

"Any ideas?" Daisuke said to Sean.

"Unfortunately, no," Sean replied.

"Some leader you are," Daisuke said.

"Well if you were leader, we'd be dead by now!" Sean replied.

"Excuse me, but we've got more important things to worry about!" Maria said, interrupting them. The enemy had gathered in front of the Rangers.

"It is time to end this!" Ragnar said. He held out his own staff and aimed it at the Rangers. The Rangers recoiled, wondering what would happen. "Take THIS!" He fired at the Rangers, which struck them. There was an explosion, and the attack sent the Rangers flying backwards, landing a good 20 feet away.

The civilians and military personnel looked on in shock. The Rangers had been defeated! After they stopped Rhinotaur! "Pathetic," said Ingvar.

In the Command Room, Col. Greene and the rest of Project Ranger looked on in shock. They had not expected the Rangers to be this badly beaten! "Come on," said Col. Greene. But all they could see was the Rangers writhing in pain.

"We thought you'd be a challenge!" Ragnar said. "I guess we were wrong. You and this planet of yours, will suffer the same fate; total destruction!" The people on the street gasped in shock at Ragnar's threat. The enemies began to walk away, thinking it was over. Until they heard a voice says

"Where are you going?" It was Sean. The Red Ranger was slowly getting up, and his helmet had been knocked off. "We're not done here!"

"Oh yes, we are," said Ragnar. "You're pathetic."

"Don't you dare turn your back on me!" Sean said. He was feeling battered, but that didn't matter right now. With the fate of the species at stake, there was no way he was going to stop right now.

"Sean, what are you doing?" Daisuke said through as much pain as Sean. "You saw what happened, are you stupid or something?"

"Stupid? Me?" He said as he got onto his knees. "Hell, no, I'm not stupid, I'm just stubborn!" He was slow to get up, mostly due to the pain. But he was _not _giving up any time soon. "Hey! Where you going? This party's just begun!"

"I already told—impressive. You must be dealing with a lot of pain right now," Ragnar said. Sean was still getting up. He smiled in defiance, as if Ragnar's taunt was nothing. He staggered a bit before standing up.

"I'm not done," he said. "No fucking way."

"You're finished," said Ragnar. "And we're leaving." He and the enemy began to leave again, but Sean would have none of it.

"Finished? Hell no!" He said. "We're not done yet!"

"You _are_," said Ragnar. "Now give up, it is pointless."

"He's just stubborn," said Túrelie. "A little attack will most likely kill him."

"I'm _not _done," said Sean. "Do you know who I am? I'm Sean O-fucking-Callahan, that's who I am! And when I say it's not over, then there's still some fighting to be done!"

"My, he's spirited," said Ingvar. "Are you sure you want to keep fighting?"

"We're not done yet," said Sean. "Not by a long shot."

"Give it up, human!" Ragnar said. "You're through!"

But Sean would have none of it; at all. "I told you! We're! NOT! _DONE! __**YET!"**_ He screamed, grabbing his sword. "Who the hell do you think I am?" With Sean's stubbornness, and possibly bravery, the Rangers began to get up. He was right; there was no way in hell they were going down that easily. Despite the pain, the Rangers stood up and gathered around Sean. Hitomi, meanwhile gave Sean his helmet, which he put back on his head. "Let's do this," he said.

"Fair enough," said Ragnar. He drew his staff again, while Sean charged him. Ragnar this time was caught off guard somewhat by the ferocity of Sean's attack. Ragnar could definitely see a form in the human's attack. But what kind of form it was, he couldn't tell. It was certainly very aggressive.

Sean thrust his blade at Ragnar to keep the humanoid on his heels. He hacked and slashed, trying to get a strike at least on Ragnar's arms to let him know he was dangerous; or at least a punch on the cheek. That's when he and Ragnar locked blades. "I am impressed human," he said. "You're fighting quite well… for a mere bag of flesh!"

"I'm full of surprises," Sean replied before going back to fighting. Ragnar managed to gain a slight upper hand when he knocked Sean's weapon out of his hand. But that advantage didn't last long when Sean roundhouse kicked Ragnar's weapon out of his hands. Ragnar was now forced to fight hand-to-hand.

"Fair enough," he said before attacking Sean.

Meanwhile, the Rangers watched Sean and Ragnar duke it out. Although Sean was fighting well, it was pretty much and evenly fought fight. But the Rangers were feeling left out. But that was going to change. "Hey, we can't let Sean have all the fun!" Kevin said. "Let's fight too!"

"_Yeah!_"

"I agree!" Daisuke said. The Rangers drew their Octane Blasters.

"Let's get 'em!" Kevin said. The Rangers charged the enemy, which did not catch them off guard. It did, however, surprise them, as they were barely ready when the Rangers attacked them. Kevin went back to Floki, Daisuke squared off with Ingvar and Hitomi and Maria attacked Túrelie.

Kevin fired his Octane Blaster at Floki, trying to distract him or maybe even hit him. Floki dodged the blasts, but there were so many of them he couldn't get close to Kevin. And just earlier ha had been kicking his ass! Kevin took the opportunity and charged Floki with his Octane Blaster now turned into a GP Saber. He swung his sword at Floki to catch the smaller guy off guard. Floki blocked his attacks as much as he could, but they were becoming too much for him. Sooner or later, the human would get a good hit on him.

Daisuke swung his GP Saber at Ingvar, trying to get a good hit on him. Ingvar was also forced on the defense, since Daisuke was attacking him more aggressively than he was earlier. The two locked bladess before Daisuke gave Ingvar a vicious backhand that Ingvar only barely managed to dodge, but could barely recover when Daisuke slashed at him again. "What's wrong, enemy?" He asked. "You were doing so well earlier!" He side kicked at Ingvar, but missed because Ingvar jumped back a few feet. But even that wasn't enough, and Daisuke closed in on him.

Just like before, Hitomi and Maria double-teamed Túrelie. And just like before, Maria attacked up close, while Hitomi preferred to stay a good distance away. Maria thrust her daggers at Túrelie, trying—much like the other Rangers—to catch Túrelie off guard. It appeared to be working, because Túrelie couldn't fight back, she was blocking the attacks with her fan. Hitomi fired a shot at Túrelie, which barely missed before another short was fired. Túrelie dodged again, but this left Maria with an opening to come in and attack, kicking and punching at Túrelie. Then Hitomi flipped in, using her gymnastics-inspired techniques to land hits on Túrelie.

Túrelie did try to use her staff, but the girls dodged the attack before coming back in to get her. Túrelie was surprised at how well they were fighting after they had been so badly beaten earlier. It must have been their determination.

Sean got several roundhouse kicks on Ragnar. None of them hit, but it was becoming clear that his aggressiveness was working to keep Ragnar at bay. Ragnar couldn't even use his staff on Sean. Sean gave him a reverse roundhouse kick, but the attack was dodged. "You fight well," said Ragnar. "But not well—" Ragnar's attempted taunt was cut off when Sean actually _landed a punch _on Ragnar's left cheek, jostling his helmet. Sean then went after Ragnar again, giving him a roundhouse kick, which landed on Ragnar's right cheek. Ragnar staggered backwards and fell to the ground, clearly surprised that Sean had actually hit him!

Floki, meanwhile, was grabbed by Kevin and thrown to the ground with Kevin's judo move. The big guy could not believe the human had actually thrown him to the ground! This was impossible!

Ingvar was kicked in the chest by Daisuke, which sent him backwards into the wall. Ingvar winced in pain as he slammed into the wall, before a few pieces of debris it him.

But the best was Hitomi and Maria. After a few moments of intense fighting with Túrelie, Maria found an opening and thrust her dagger at Túrelie's face. Túrelie tried to dodge but her helmet strap got a glancing blow from Maria's dagger. Túrelie stumbled, feeling her helmet strap. "Impressive, human. But you cannot—" she couldn't finish her sentence, because Hitomi fired her bow at the right moment, and much like Maria's dagger, struck Túrelie's helmet, which knocked it off.

"Serves you right!" Maria taunted. "Come on Hitomi, let's finish this!"

"Right!" Hitomi said in response before charging Túrelie.

Ragnar, meanwhile, sat on the ground holding his cheeks. The fact that the human had actually hit him was still not registering with him. He watched as Sean walked up to him, unflinching. The human bent down and said calmly, "You lose... bitch."

"I have not!" Ragnar replied. "You humans are only—" He was cut off by Sean grabbing his helmet.

"What was that you just used, magic?" he asked.

"Only to your primitive eyes!" Ragnar replied. He reached up to rip Sean's hands off his helmet, but Sean ripped his helmet off.

"Which country are you wor—What the FUCK!?"

He could not see, but Sean's mouth was agape wider than the Grand Canyon. Ragnar glared at Sean and realized what his dumbfounded reaction was about. "Let me see. You have never laid eyes upon a real _Elf_ before, have they?"

You heard that right! A goddamn _ELF_! Pointy ears and everything! It became clear to the others that the enemy they were facing was different. The two ladies were just as surprised at Túrelie's pointed ears, as were Kevin and Daisuke.

"What the fuck—this ain't _Lord of the Rings_!" Sean said. "What the fuck is going on!?"

Ragnar saw an opening. He attacked Sean with his energy staff, but Sean braced himself and was only sent backwards a few feet. Ragnar got up effortlessly as the other Elves gathered around him while the Rangers stood before them. "Looks like you underestimated us!" Kevin taunted.

"I suggest you get the hell out of here, or we're gonna have to get more serious!" Sean said.

Ragnar only glared at them defiantly. He knew his duty was done, but he did have a bruised ego. Still, the humans knew that Elves were real. "What do we do now?" Ingvar asked.

"KILL THEM!" Túrelie shouted. It became obvious that these Rangers were serious and did not intend to back down. Although they had done so well earlier, the Elves had let their guard down, this much was clear.

"Fall back to Alfheim," said Ragnar. "We have completed our mission."

"But Ragnar—" Ingvar tried to say, but Ragnar cut him off.

"We fall back!" said Ragnar. "Even though we lost morally, we still came close to killing them. Besides, there will be other times." The Elves, who were shocked at Ragnar's words realized what he was talking about. They could kill the Rangers, just not today.

"I see what you're saying," said Ingvar. "Then it's agreed. We fall back for now."

"You did well today, Power Rangers!" Ragnar said. "But next time, you won't be so lucky!" The Elves and the Suitroops disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the Rangers the only thing in the street.

"_Power down!_" In a flash of light, the Rangers' suits disappeared and much like before, they staggered at the loss of their suits. But then they smiled at each other.

"WAH-HOOO!" Kevin yelled. "We did it! Our first major victory!"

"Fuck yeah!" Sean replied. "It's a moral victory, but a victory none the less!" It was now late afternoon, and the sun was beginning to set.

"A moral victory never felt so good," said Maria. "And painful." She winced as the pain returned to her. The other Rangers felt the pain, too.

"I guess our adrenaline must have dulled the pain," said Hitomi. "But I still feel good about what happened."

"Yeah, now those Elves will think twice before they try to kill us," said Daisuke. The Rangers all smiled at each other through their respective pain while the people in the street cheered loudly. It was a tough, hard fight that essentially ended in a stalemate, but it was a moral victory, nonetheless. And the Rangers would gladly take a moral victory any day.

In the Command Room, the people of Project Ranger cheered at the result of the fight while Col. Greene simply smiled. He was worried the Rangers would let this go to their heads, but since the Rangers did a good job, he would let that slide for now. Right now, he needed to celebrate.

"I cannot believe I underestimated those humans!" Túrelie growled. "They'll pay for this!"

"Túrelie, calm down," said Ingvar. "They only managed to lay a few attacks on us, whereas we nearly killed them."

"Ingvar has a point Túrelie," said Ragnar. He was sitting athis desk and drinking a glass of wine. "We shall let them have this moral victory. And I suggest you prepare for next time."

"Yes, Commander," said Túrelie

"You got lucky, Túrelie," said Floki. "But I nearly got that blue one! He's going to pay for what he did."

"In time Floki," Ragnar said. "As of now we must re-assess our situation. From what it seems, this reclamation will not be as easy as we all thought it would be. Those 'Power Rangers' may not look like much, but they seem to be a threat. It seems we should not take them lightly" It was then that an officer Elf rushed into the office.

"A message, Commander," said the subordinate.

"From whom?" Ragnar asked. He was interested by this new development.

"From Her Majesty, the Queen," said the subordinate. The members of Ragnar's inner circle turned to Ragnar, who remained stone-faced. "It is urgent."

"Very well then," said Ragnar. "I shall meet with her in person. But let it be known; we _will _deal with these so-called 'Power Rangers'."

End chapter


	5. Recovery

Power Rangers GPX, Episode 5: Recovery

[][][]

"Stupid El—OW!" Sean winced as a UN doctor stitched up a wound on his left arm. The Rangers were being treated for injuries they suffered in their fight against the Elves. Kevin was being bandaged up, Daisuke was also being stitched up and Hitomi and Maria were in a different room for now so they could have some privacy while they were treated. The UN had run some tests on them earlier, and they saw no major or life-threatening injuries, major organ damage or broken bones. The only injuries they got were some bruising and a few gashes. The Rangers had essentially gotten lucky. But that's not the way Col. Greene saw it.

"Are you feeling okay, Rangers?" He asked as he came in with Hitomi and Maria.

"I think so," said Kevin. "I might need some Advil, though."

"Stupid stitches!" Sean said. "I hate getting them, but I always thought they numbed the area before stitching up the patient!" He said to the nurse on hand, as he could feel them stitching him up. The nurse gave him a dirty look, as if to say, 'then I'm not giving you any now'.

"Just relax Sean," said Kevin.

"Yeah, you're one to talk, you're not getting stitches!" Sean said. "By the way Colonel, you said these suits were invincible! Then how come we got these injuries?"

"Well, the way I see it, the suits did their job," he replied. Sean looked at him skeptically, as if that wasn't good enough.

"Oh really?" He said. "How so?"

"It's simple, really," Col. Greene said. "Had you not been wearing the suits, you surely would have been killed. But since you wore them, they protected you from serious injury."

"I don't get it," said Hitomi. "You said these suits were invincible, yet we got hurt anyway."

"Well to man-made weapons, they are invincible," said Col. Greene. "If someone fired a Howitzer at you, you would most likely survive if you were wearing the suit. And they won't protect you if you say, roll your ankle."

"And yet they hurt us big time," said Sean.

"Those were only minor injuries," said Col. Greene. "You were most likely hurt because of the Elves' weapons."

"But how the heck are they as powerful as a howitzer?" Maria asked.

"We're not sure," said Col. Greene. "We don't know the capabilities of the enemy. But for now, we'll have to say that the suits did their job anyway, because if you hadn't worn them, then it's likely you would have been KIA." Sean winced again when the nurse finished up her work on his stitches.

"You should still be able to fight with those stitches," said Col. Greene. "They're made of the same fiber that the Ranger suits are made of."

"You've been working on this stuff for 15 years?" Kevin asked.

"No, not fifteen," said Col. Greene. "I've only been working here for 10 years. This whole project has been going on for over 50 years."

"_FIFTY YEARS!"_The Rangers all said in unison. They were not prepared to learn about how long it had been going for and the revelation pretty much stunned them.

"What, you didn't know?" Greene asked as if he was under the assumption the Rangers knew that little factoid.

"No, you never really told us," said Kevin. "The way you said it, it was as if he started around the time of that distress signal."

"Oh, then I apologize," said Col. Greene. "Well the project was started at Caltech in the late 1950s."

"The 1950s?" Sean asked. "Let me guess… WWII?"

"Sort of," said Greene. "Actually, it was after the Korean War that the project founder got to work on it. He had fought in Korea and was trying to discover a cloth that could not only keep the user warm in cold temperatures, but also protect them. He… took a while to invent that cloth. But the way to deploy it was what got him the most worked up."

"How?" Hitomi asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Greene replied. "All I know is that it took him and the other members of the project nearly thirty years just to figure out the physics to fit the suit into a small storage space. Believe me, it's incredibly complicated."

"I guess it's best we leave it at that," Sean whispered to Hitomi, who nodded in agreement.

"So what about the suits?" Kevin asked.

"Good question," said Greene. "The developers, through initial testing, knew that they couldn't just use any natural materials like cotton or wool. They had to create their own materials."

"That sounds interesting," said Maria.

"Over time, they experimented with several different materials, trying to find out which one worked the best. That too, took them a while, all the way up to the mid-1980s," said Col. Greene. "But, they managed to find one material that met their specifications and could stand up to an atom bomb; although your suits most likely won't withstand an atom bomb."

"That sucks," said Kevin.

"So what is it?" Sean asked.

"I can't tell you exactly what it is, or what it is made of," said Col. Greene. "But I can tell you this: it is a self-assembling nano-fiber formed with an inter-cellular memory alloy."

"And it looks like spandex," said Kevin. The other Rangers stifled their laughs and Col. Greene rolled his eyes.

"It's not spandex," he said.

"Sorry," said Kevin.

"The physics I can't explain, but I can tell you how this was discovered," he said. "And it has to do with how you transform. After 30 years, the team came upon a breakthrough: A universal bio-electric field; an unseen energy grid that connects the life-force of all living things. Harnessing this field allowed the team to develop your powers and the suits themselves."

"Bio-field?" Kevin asked. "Sounds like the Force."

"Sort of," said Col. Greene.

"Oh, so we're Jedi," said Sean. The rest of the group snickered at Sean's joke and Col. Greene just rolled his eyes again and shook his head.

"Not exactly," said Col. Greene.

"Oh, well," said Sean. He'd had his fun for now.

"But, it has found its uses other than the suits," said Col. Greene. "In fact, the stitches you're getting right now are made from a combination of that material and cotton." The Rangers looked at their stitches, and gave impressed looks. "The cotton is simply to weaken it enough to cut it. Otherwise, it should be able to handle anything. Although I do suggest you try not to exert yourselves too much, which is what the doctors recommended."

"Nice," said Sean.

"And yes, this material does seem improbable, even with the combination with cotton," said Col. Greene.

"So what's in it?" Hitomi asked.

"That's top secret, highly classified information," said Col. Greene. "Even I don't know what's in that material."

"Lousy excuse," said Kevin.

"But enough about the suits," said Col. Greene. The Rangers groaned in dismay. They wanted to know more about this stuff! "We need to de-brief you five about the enemy. I'll just be asking you some simple questions, okay?"

"Fine with me," said Maria.

"I'm good," Sean said.

"Go ahead," said Daisuke.

"Fine," Kevin added.

Hitomi finished by saying, "Okay."

"Very well then," Col. Greene said. He gestured to the door and ushered in a person with a camera and a tri-pod. The Rangers looked at in confusion.

"Um, why does he have a camera?" Hitomi asked.

"A fair question," said Co. Greene. "We need to record your de-briefing so our superiors at the UN know what it is we're facing. Because of some difficulties, we couldn't get any sound while monitoring your fight with the enemy, so we'll have to ask you about them."

"So get on with it!" Sean said.

"No need to be impatient," said Col. Greene. He gestured to the cameraman, who nodded back. When he put the camera on the tri-pod, he fidgeted around for a few seconds before a red light came on, signaling that the camera was recording. "Okay then," said Col. Greene. "Tell us what the name of your enemy was; both individually and as a group."

"_Elves_," said Sean. "Fucking _Elves_. Pointed ears and all that shit."

"Elves?" Col. Greene asked. "Where did they come from?"

"I dunno, Santa's Village, Middle-earth?" Sean replied.

"I was talking to myself," said Col. Greene. "What was their leader's name?"

"Ragnar," said Sean.

"Their second-in-command is named Ingvar," said Daisuke.

"They have a psychopath named Floki," said Kevin. "He did not look very strong, but he could lift large chunk of debris over his head like it was nothing. And me, as well."

"The woman's name is Túrelie," said Maria.

"She's also tough," said Hitomi.

"I see," said Col. Greene. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," said Sean. "I don't know how old those guys are, but they don't look a day over 40, 30, or our age. And I guess since they're Elves, they look better than we ever could."

"Save for Floki," said Kevin.

"I know," said Maria. "I'm not a lesbian, but damn, Túrelie is _atractiva como el infierno_." The other Rangers gave her a glance before turning back to Col. Greene.

"And they like they came out of the _Lord of the Rings_," said Hitomi. Col. Greene nodded, as did the others.

"Anything else?" asked Col. Greene.

"Yeah, they said we didn't deserve to live on this planet or something like that," said Sean. There was a pause as Col. Greene tried to comprehend what Sean had just said. "I don't really know, either."

Col. Greene stayed silent for a moment, showing a look of thought on his face. The Rangers waited for him to speak, then he finally said, "All right, then. That's good enough for now. Head back to your townhouse and get some rest. You earned it, Rangers."

"Thank you Colonel," said Sean as he and the other Rangers saluted him. Col. Greene saluted back and began to walk out of the room before he stopped and turned around.

"Oh, by the way," he said. "Since some of you aren't too happy with the Haro, we've given you a second robot. One that we hope will be less annoying." With that, he walked out of the room, with the camera man in tow.

With him gone, the Rangers all looked at each other. None of them had anything to say, as they really didn't know what exactly they wanted to do. This continued until Sean said, "Champagne, anyone?"

"Fine Champagne?" Maria asked.

"The finest we can afford," Said Sean.

"I like the sound of that," said Hitomi.

"Me too," Kevin added. "A little bubbly sounds nice right about now."

"Then it's settled," said Sean. "Some fine champagne or simply fine red wine."

:-:-:-:

"_To victory_!" The five champagne glasses clinked together and the Rangers took a sip of their champagne.

"Aaahhh," Sean sighed. "Dom Pérignon, gotta love it!"

"I've never had champagne before," said Hitomi. "I kind of like it!"

"Just don't get addicted to it," said Kevin. "We can't afford too much of this!"

"But I suppose it's worth it!" Maria said.

"You can say that again," Kevin said as he took a sip of his champagne. He sighed after taking the sip, enjoying the taste of the liquor.

"So what happens after this?" said Daisuke. "The Elves might start—"

"Daisuke," Hitomi said, cutting him off. "Let's just enjoy this." She took a few more sips of the champagne before she started to feel woozy. Sean took a look at her and said,

"You're not a lightweight, are you?"

"Um, no, I'm not!" She said quickly, trying to deny it.

Sean gave her look that said that he didn't exactly buy her excuse. "No more for you," he said. Hitomi groaned. It was just as well, though, since her glass was almost empty. "Hey Mei!" He called and motioned to someone.

A red, female-looking robot with an _odango_ hairstyle appeared to take Hitomi's champagne glass. "Can you take care of this?" Sean said to the robot, whose name was Mei.

"_Affirmative_," it said in its mechanical voice and proceeded to pick up Hitomi's champagne glass.

"I already like that robot," said Sean.

"Is it because it's in the shape of a woman?" Daisuke asked cynically.

"No," Sean said. "It's because it's less annoying than that damn haro-thingy."

"I agree," said Maria. "It's also nice to get another _chica_ here to balance everything out!" Sean and Kevin stifled their laughs, as did Hitomi. Daisuke simply shook his head. For him, he was more worried about the Elves' next plan. But since the Rangers wouldn't listen, it didn't matter.

After he was done with his champagne, Sean took a step outside. The sun was still in the sky, so there was still some daylight to enjoy. He wasn't coming out to smoke-he needed to lung capacity-but just to relax. Since it was early June, there was no doubt the sun was going to be out a lot longer.

Now it would have been quiet, had Sean not noticed a small boy around age five, playing on the sidewalk. He mostly ignored the kid, though, since it really didn't involve him, he just kept watching the cars come by. The kid was playing in front of the house to the right of the Ranger house. He was playing with a soccer ball on the sidewalk when suddenly the ball slipped from his hands and rolled to the other side of the street.

That's when the trouble happened. Sean could see a car coming from down on the left side of the street. The kid was getting ready to chase after the ball. As you can see, this is obviously a recipe for disaster. Sean sprung towards the kid as fast as he could, and grabbed the kid just as the car zipped past.

Shingo looked in confusion at the man who just grabbed him. Being a naive young boy, he didn't know that there was a car coming. Of course, he wasn't sure what was going on and why the brown-haired foreigner grabbed him. The foreigner then set him down and put up his index finger. He wanted him to stay still. He watched the old man run across the street and grabbed his ball before looking again and running back across, carrying his ball. Then the man came up and kneeled in front of him. Then he said something that he couldn't understand.

"You oughta be more careful," Sean said to the young boy. Sean then looked up in the townhouse's door and noticed a woman, probably the boy's mother come out, yelling. "It's okay," he said. "He's fine, no need to worry."

"Thank you," she said in broken English. She must have barely understood what he said. Then she said something to her son before he said,

"_Arigatou gozaimasu_."

"No problem," Sean replied. He watched the mother and her son walk back into the house, with the mother no doubt scolding her son and telling him to be more careful.

"Not bad," said a voice from behind him. Sean turned around and noticed Maria standing on the stoop and Daisuke, Kevin and Hitomi were watching from the window.

"You were watching the whole time, weren't you?" he said as he put his hands in his pocket.

"To be honest, that's pretty surprising what you did," she said. "All this time, I just thought you were an asshole."

Sean laughed and replied, "Well, not all the time. Although I'm guessing Rich Boy Miyazawa's surprised."

"Looks like it," she said after glancing at the window.

"You know, maybe next time, when I'm having a quiet moment," he said. "Maybe you should try not spying on me."

"We'll see about that," said Maria as Sean walked back up the steps and into the house.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

Ragnar studied the report for the battle Rhinotaur participated in. It seemed as if Rhinotaur had underestimated the enemy. However, he felt it was not entirely out of the ordinary, as he did not know about these 'Power Rangers'. But the military had been aware the humans were planning to counter their attack. He should have seen it coming.

"Commander!" Ragnar was jolted from his reverie in that moment. He spilled some of his wine and groaned in dismay.

"What is it?" He said with a hint of anger in his voice. "What do you want?"

"Sir, the Queen requests your presence!" The Elf sergeant said. Ragnar's feature changed from angry to relaxed in an instant.

"Send them in," he said to subordinate. The sergeant saluted. Ragnar smiled to himself. Well, at least there was a bright side to this development. The Queen would want to know his progress. His plans were still on track. "Tell Floki, Ingvar and Túrelie to join me in the throne room."

"At once, Commander," the sergeant saluted before departing.

Some minutes later, Ragnar arrived at the doors to the Queen's throne room. He saw Floki, Ingvar and Túrelie awaiting him, but not impatiently. They all saluted him and he saluted back.

"You all know the story, yes?" he asked.

"Of course!" Said Túrelie. "After all, the Queen need not know!"

"What else must we know?" Ingvar asked.

"The Queen may assign some generals to our cause," he said, "We must be sure she knows what the _stakes _are." He waited until the doors opened.

"Presenting, the Supreme Commander of the Armies of Alfheim, Commander Ragnar!" Ragnar and his inner circle entered the throne room. The room was giant, with oak pillars climbing up nearly twenty feet in the air. Artwork decorated the walls and pillars, depicting the greatest moments in Elven history and the wise and benevolent rulers of the Elves.

Queen Eruvanda sat at her throne at the end. It was made from a tree that reached up to the roof. She was a beautiful Elf-lady, clad in a white gown and wearing a crystalline tiara with a red jewel in the middle. Her blue eyes watched as Ragnar approached and her golden hair shone in the ethereal light. Ragnar and his inner circle knelt before the Queen and rose.

"It's good to see you, Ragnar," she said. "I hope you have been well lately."

"Save for a minor defeat, I am well," Ragnar said.

"What did you do?" she asked, but in an almost accusatory manner.

"We intended to announce our presence to the humans," said Ragnar, "But it appears that they, as they typically do, reacted in such a way that we were forced to defend ourselves.

"Is this true?" she asked.

"It is, Your Grace," said Túrelie. "Our ambassador was attacked by a group of humans calling themselves 'Power Rangers'. And once we went to meet them, they attacked us, as well."

"This is serious," said Queen Eruvanda. "But is there any possibility this can be resolved peacefully? Is it not possible for us to—"

"Absolutely not!" Ragnar interrupted. "I mean, I believe it is far too late for that to happen now."

"I understand," Eruvanda said. "Do what you must."

"Thank you, Your Grace," said Ragnar. He bowed, turned and departed. As he was departing, however, he turned to Ingvar. "Find me some generals willing to take part and have them meet in my office."

"Yes, sir," said Ingvar.

Minutes later, Ragnar was seated at the head of a conference table in his office. Papers were strewn about on the table. Ingvar and Túrelie sat on each side of him reviewing papers. A soldier stepped in and saluted Ragnar. "Four generals have volunteered," he said.

"Send them in," said Ragnar.

The soldier saluted and walked out of the office. He returned minutes later, holding open the door as four men walked inside and saluted. "Generals Arquen, Elbeth, Lietar and Jerle reporting for duty, sir."

"Thank you, sergeant. You are dismissed." The soldier saluted again and left. He looked at them.

"Welcome, General Elbeth," said Ragnar. Elbeth had short, curly blonde hair and green eyes. He had a smaller frame, but he had a look about him that Ragnar knew was worthy of this campaign. It was all in his eyes. Just looking at him, he knew Elbeth was ready for anything.

"Thank you, Commander," said Elbeth, "Whoever they are, they won't stand a chance against me."

"And you, General Arquen," said Ragnar. Arquen's hair was long and curly, tied back in a ponytail. He had a slightly larger build than Elbeth, and Ragnar knew Arquen was a qualified general. Still, the look in Arquen's blue eyes told Ragnar something else. Perhaps he was not to be completely trusted.

"Thank you as well, Commander Ragnar," Arquen said in a dignified and noble tone.

"And you as well, General Lietar," Ragnar continued. Lietar had a more feminine appearance to him and had a build very similar to Elbeth's. The general's straight brown hair was tied back in a ponytail which he twirled like a woman would. His blue eyes were very similar to Elbeth's, which Ragnar was pleased to see.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," said Lietar. "I can't wait to get my hands on them."

"And it is certainly a pleasure to see you, Marshal Jerle," said Ragnar. Jerle's stark white hair was not tied in a ponytail, instead flowing freely. He was physically the largest of all the four generals who volunteered for this mission, and Ragnar could see in his ice-blue eyes his dedication to the service.

"A pleasure to see and work with you, Commander," Jerle said shaking Ragnar's hand. "When I heard about your campaign, I was more than eager to volunteer."

"Then have a seat and I shall brief you on our campaign," said Ragnar. All four generals took their seats and Ingvar stood. The lights dimmed and Ingvar stepped over to the hologram projected onto the table.

"You all know about the threat of human encroachment into our territory," said Ingvar, "We intended to look into this ourselves. But it seems as if the humans have no intention of working with us."

"The fools," said Jerle.

"We sent an emissary to assess whether the humans were worthy of diplomatic relations. As it turned out, they are more hostile than we imagined. We must deal with them. But it will not be so simple."

"How so?" Jerle asked.

"Here is how," Ingvar said. The picture changed to showing various United States army weapons. The Four as well as the others at the table gazed in amazement at the weapons and vehicles. "This is just one example," said Ingvar. "This country, known as the United States of America, spends massive amounts of money on its military, much to some citizens' dismay. They are the most advanced country on this planet when it comes to military technology."

"So what you're saying is these humans won't be so easy?" said Elbeth.

"Correct," said Ingvar. "But there is one group that we failed to notice. And it nearly cost us." Then the picture changed to that of the Rangers. Since they had not fought the Rangers, the generals tried to stifle their laughs at the ridiculous-looking costumes the Rangers wore.

"What is the meaning of this?" Jerle asked. "Those fools are that dangerous?"

"You are underestimating them," said Ingvar. "They are not as weak as you think. We made the same mistake in thinking they were easy. We were wrong, even though they barely landed a blow on us."

"Then why did you retreat, Ingvar?" Jerle said, with his voice getting angry.

"Because we were caught off guard by their tenacity," said Ragnar as he took a sip of his wine.

"I would hardly call that a moral victory," said Jerle.

"You weren't there," said Ingvar. "These 'Power Rangers' as they are called, not only came close to defeating us, but they defeated Rhinotaur, too."

"They what!?" Jerle yelled. "They killed Rhinotaur!?"

"Yes," said Ingvar. "They are more dangerous than you realize. They are not to be taken lightly."

"Then who are they?" Arquen asked.

"I am getting to that," said Ingvar. The picture changed to one of Sean. "This is their apparent leader," said Ingvar. "His name is Sean O' Callahan, and he was born in the city of Chicago, in the United Sates. He wears the red suit."

"I see," said Lietar.

"He is also skilled in two human martial arts, as well. He studies 'Shotokan karate' and plays a sport called 'ice hockey'."

"I see," said Jerle.

The picture then changed to one of Kevin. "This is his apparent second-in-command, Kevin O' Donnell. He is from Dublin, Ireland."

"Do you have information on him?" Elbeth asked.

"Yes, we do," said Ingvar. "He served in the Irish Defense Forces for three human years. He is also well-trained in Terran martial arts, using the fighting style known as 'Mixed Martial Arts', Judo and Jeet Kun Do. He wears the Blue suit."

The picture changed again, this one to Daisuke. "This one is Daisuke Miyzawa, from Kyoto. It is in the same country as the city of Tokyo, Japan. His suit is Green."

"I see," said Arquen. The picture changed again, this one to Maria.

"This is Maria Aparicio, from the city of Caracas, in Venezuela on the South American continent," said Ingvar. "She is skilled in the human martial arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Tae Kon Do. Her suit is Yellow."

"Hmm, she doesn't look too bad," said Elbeth.

Th picture changed again, this one to Hitomi. "This one is Hitomi Miyazawa," Ingvar said. "She is from the same city as Daisuke Miyazawa, because she is his sister, 3 years younger than him."

"Interesting," said Lietar.

"She has studied the martial arts of karate and integrates human gymnastics into her fighting style. She wears the 'Pink' suit." The screen changed again. "That is all on the Rangers themselves. All of them are in the age range of 18-24.

"As a unit, they appear to be very dangerous. Which is why this threat must be neutralized before we begin our major operations," Ingvar finished.

"I see," said Jerle. "So you think they are a threat?"

"Correct," said Ingvar.

"Ingvar's statement is no lie," said Ragnar. "We let underestimated them and we were nearly defeated because of this. Do _not,_under any circumstances, make the same mistakes we did."

"It is unlike you to admit your mistakes Ragnar," said Jerle. "If that is the case, then we must be wary of them. Very well, we shall divert a small amount of our resources to combating these 'Power Rangers'."

"A smart choice Jerle," said Túrelie. "But will that be enough to defeat them?"

"Your mouth will get you in trouble one day Túrelie," Jerle replied.

Túrelie laughed. "You seem to think that is all I have," she said. "But these Rangers might not be defeated simply through sheer force."

"We shall see," said Elbeth. "I will face them myself first to see what these 'Power Rangers' are made of."

"Will you be taking one of the monsters?" Ingvar asked.

"I might," Elbeth replied. "Of course, I might find something else to do down there. We might be able to find some weapons we could use against them."

"You talk big Elbeth," said Túrelie. "But can you back those claims up?"

"I can and I will back those claims up," Elbeth said. Then he stood up and said, "I will attack and destroy them! They won't know what hit them!"

_To be continued_

_Author's notes: Okay, quick comments here. If you know anything about __Supercharged__, Arquen's appearance might feel a little weird, especially when you consider what happens later in that story. However, if you don't, I won't ruin any spoilers, but it involves romance._

_This one took me a while because I decided to use a Sindarin name but I kind of forgot about this. Whatever, it's up. Either way, please keep reading __Supercharged__, Parts 1 &amp; 2, and drop me a review!_


	6. Grand Prix Megazord

Power Rangers GPX, episode 6: Grand Prix Megazord

[][][]

Kevin stuck out his tongue out, trying to focus on the task at hand. He turned the steering wheel of his Zord, trying to dodge enemy fire. This was especially difficult, since not only was his Zord bunched together with the other Zords, they had to deal with the canyon of buildings that was Tokyo. "Scatter!" said a voice in his ear. Sean had ordered the Rangers to scatter so an incoming blast from the enemy monster would not hit all of them and take them out. "Hitomi! Maria! Circle around, and cut off his escape route!" He said. "Kevin, Rich Boy, you and I will attack from the front! Let's go!"

"_Right!_" The Rangers did as Sean ordered and prepared to attack. Maria and Hitomi drove their Zords behind the monster, leaving it without an escape route. Sean, Kevin and Daisuke then attacked from the front. "Kevin, head to the - and tr- - - him -!"

Kevin frantically checked his headset. "Sean, I can't hear you!" He said.

"I sa- - to the - and -t h-m -f!" Sean's voice phased in and out, and Kevin couldn't tell what Sean was saying. He began to sweat nervously. He wasn't panicking, having been in this kind of situation before in the Irish Defense Force, but this was still an unsettling problem. Now he was driving with very little chance at communication with Sean.

"Sean! Sean!" He called out. "What is i—" KABOOM! ! An explosion jolted Kevin in his Zord, rattling him around and the Zord went black. Then, he heard another voice.

"_End simulation_." Then the lights came on again and Kevin O' Donnell removed his headset. Oh wait; there is one thing that was not mentioned: None of the Rangers were morphed, and this was simply a simulation and they were in the secret base for the United Nation's 'Project Ranger' underneath Tokyo, Japan.

"That was not a great performance, Rangers," Kevin heard over the intercom. The simulator opened up and Kevin could see Col. Alan Greene, the military commander of 'Project Ranger' standing outside his simulator. "O' Donnell, what happened in there? Why didn't you do as O' Callahan ordered?"

"Sorry Colonel," said the GPX Blue Power Ranger in his native Irish accent. "My headset was on the fritz, and I couldn't tell what he was saying."

"He was ordering you to go to the right and cut off the monster's route," Col. Greene said.

"But sir, I said I couldn't hear him!" Kevin said again. "It's not easy to follow commands when you can't hear what your commander is saying!"

"That's not much of an excuse, O' Donnell," Col. Greene said in response. "Your headset is not your problem."

"But it is the problem of the tech guys," Kevin replied. "I keep on getting the bad headsets."

"It's still your problem O'Donnell," Col. Greene replied. 'You should be able to figure out some way to communicate."

"Col. Greene sir," said another voice. Col. Greene turned around to see Sean saluting him. "Sir, I can vouch for my friend. Even though I could clearly hear him on my headset, it was clear he couldn't hear me."

"I commend you for defending him," Col. Greene replied. "But that's not the point of this simulation."

"Then what is, Colonel?" Kevin asked with an annoyed tone on his voice; even though that's not really a good idea to say to your commanding officer. Even though Greene let it go; sort of.

"The point is that you may end up in a situation when you cannot communicate with each other," he said.

"Then what are we supposed to do, Colonel?" Sean asked.

"It's simple, O'Callahan," Col. Greene replied. "Improvise!" With that, he walked out of the simulator room, leaving the Rangers there to process Greene's words.

"It's not exactly easy," said Maria.

"You can say that again," said Kevin. "You okay, Kevin?" Sean asked.

"For once I agree with the American," said Daisuke Miyazawa.

"I guess that's saying something," Sean replied. Their mutual grudges made it difficult to agree on anything.

"I'll say," said Daisuke's sister, Hitomi, the GPX Pink Ranger.

"Ah jeez, I'm beat," said Sean as he took a big yawn. "Come on, let's get back to the house, I think it's getting late."

"You're right," said Maria. "I need my beauty sleep."

"Damn, I forgot about that," said Kevin. "And I don't think we've eaten anything since lunch break at work. And what is it now, 9 at night?"

"Darn, pizza again," said Maria.

"Well, then, let's find an American or Italian-owned place," said Sean. "Japanese pizza sucks. I'd rather find a place owned by a Chicagoan or a New Yorker."

"I agree," said Hitomi. "That last place we had was awful."

"It will be hard to find a pizza place open this late that's American-owned in Tokyo," said Daisuke.

"Well, then we find one," said Sean. "Now let's do what Michael Jackson said and beat it."

:-:-:-:**PRGPX**:-:-:-:

Elbeth walked into the office of his Commander, Ragnar. Surely, he approached the throne of his Commander and saluted him. "My Emperor," he said. "I am ready to descend to Earth and attack the Power Rangers."

Ragnar listened to his words. Ragnar looked at Elbeth with his blue eyes and said, "Are your forces ready?"

"Very much so," said Elbeth. "I plan to lure them out with a large-sized monster. In an even better twist, they may not be able to fight it."

Ragnar took a sip of his elven red wine and smiled lightly. "Sounds like a good plan," he said. "Which monster do you plan on using?"

"I was thinking about using a cyborg monster," he replied. "Perhaps the Grunchor or the Kel monster?"

"The Kel monster would be more interesting," said Ragnar. "Use that one, instead."

"I see," said Elbeth. "Very well then, I attack with the Kel monster!"

"And remember what Ingvar and I have stressed," he said. "Do not make the same mistake we did. Do not underestimate the Power Rangers."

"Yes, Commander!" Elbeth saluted quickly and left the throne room. Ragnar watched his general leave the throne room before taking another sip of his wine.

[][][]

The next morning, the Rangers were sitting down at the table before work. Sean was absent, but that wasn't a bad thing. He just wasn't around. The Rangers' robot assistant, Mei, helped Kevin out with some boxes of oranges. "Thank you, Mei," said Kevin.

"_You're welcome_," the robot replied. At that point, they could hear someone bounding down the steps before hearing Sean hooting and hollering in the living room. Naturally, they were pretty confused about what was going on until Sean ran into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Daisuke asked. "Did you win the lottery so your poor father could afford a saw?"

"Keep talkin'," Sean replied. "I'm excited because the Blackhawks just won the Stanley Cup!" The room went silent, making Sean wonder if he said something wrong. "Uh, hello?"

"Big deal!" Kevin said, raining on Sean's parade.

"Very funny," he said. "It's been 49 years, and we had a young team. It's a team that might win us some more Cups in the future."

"You were screaming about something good," said Maria. "I thought it was something else." Sean looked at Maria with an annoyed look on his face. Usually that look was reserved for Daisuke.

Daisuke was about to answer when suddenly, the Rangers heard that damn alarm again.

"_Haro! Haro!_ _Emergency! Haro! Haro!_" A green-colored, ball-shaped robot began bouncing up and down near the table, flapping all the while.

"Man, I hate that thing!" Sean said, referring to the Haro. Mei, meanwhile, walked over to the kitchen counter and press a few buttons, making a screen pop up, revealing Col. Ala Greene.

"Rangers," he said. "There seems to be something descending towards Mt. Fuji. We need you to get here to the base ASAP!"

"Well, looks like we're calling in sick today!" Sean replied. Greene didn't have to tell him twice. "Come on guys, let's move!"

"Right behind you!" Kevin said. The rest of the Rangers followed Sean outside to the Hummer H2-AKA the Grand Prix Cruiser-and hi-tailed it to the base.

:-:-:-:-:

"Alright, here's the situation," said Col. Greene. He pointed to a large screen in the small theater, like one would find a football team watching video in. The Rangers themselves and some of the base personnel watched Greene's explanation of what was going on. "We found some object that materialized out of nowhere near Mount Fuji. It's already got the authorities and locals in a bit of a whirlwind. It's a large object, kind of looks like a big container, but no one's really sure what it is."

"Do you think it's stuff those elves made?" Hitomi asked.

"The hell does that mean?" asked Sean.

"That's what we suspect it to be," said Col. Greene. "Now from what it looks like, this is a pretty large object. If so, then you may need to use your special weapons."

"Finally!" Sean said eagerly. "I've wanted to use the Zords!"

"Now hold on, I'm getting to that," said Col. Greene. "As I said, the object appears to near Mt. Fuji and the surrounding area. You'll have to get there in your weapons in order to investigate this."

"And if this thing turns out to be big?" Maria asked.

"Then that's when your Zords come in to play," he replied. The screen changed to an image of five vehicles. All of them were the same color as the Rangers; Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Pink. "These are your Zords," he said. "Red's Zord is a standard GT Race Car, codenamed GT Racer."

"Nice," said Sean.

"Blue's is a Touring racing car. It is known as Touring Racer."

"Touring Racer?" said Kevin, displeased with the name of his Zord.

"Green's is a pick-up truck, called Mountain Hauler."

"Sounds good," said Daisuke.

"Yellow's Zord is a HazMat vehicle, called Haz Runner."

"_Bueno,_" said Maria.

"And finally, Pink's is an ambulance, called Am Chaser."

"I like it," said Hitomi.

"Now then, I want you to know this: Your Zords can combine into a larger robot, called the 'Grand Prix Megazord'," said Col. Greene. "It is a powerful weapon, and a single slash from its sword can bring down an enemy. Briefing adjourned. I'll give you more information as we receive it. Good luck, Rangers."

"Thank you sir," said Sean. The Rangers got up from their seats and walked out of the theater. Once they were outside, they lined up next to Sean, with him in the middle. "Ready, guys!" he shouted.

"_Ready! GPX! Start it up!_" The Rangers pressed a button on their AcceleMorphers on their left wrist. There was a flash of light, and in an instant, the group was changed into their Ranger uniforms.

"Alright, let's go!" Sean said.

_"Got it!_"

The garage containing the Zords was massive. How in the world the UN was able to fit these things underneath Tokyo without being detected was simply astonishing. Instantly, each Ranger went to their respective Zords. Hitomi and Maria themselves ran to their respective Zords. Maria's Zord was a giant HazMat vehicle, while Hitomi's was essentially a giant Ambulance. Now Maria appeared to be confident, but Hitomi wasn't. "Um, Maria?" She said.

"What is it, _chica_?" She asked.

"To be honest, I've never driven a car before," she said. "I don't know if I'll do well enough or not!" Hitomi could not see Maria's face, but underneath her helmet, Maria had a look of surprise on her face.

"Why is this manifesting all of a sudden?" She asked. "You never seemed to have confidence issues before."

"I don't know," Hitomi replied. "I guess I'm just nervous.

"Don't worry _chica_," Maria replied. "You'll do fine. You've been trained to do this."

"I guess so," said Hitomi. "Maybe I'm just getting worked up over nothing."

"Come on you two, let's go!" Sean called out from his Zord. "We gotta get a move on, let's go!" Maria and Hitomi looked at each other and nodded quickly before climbing into their Zords. "Hey Maria, what where you and Hitomi talking about back there?" He asked through his helmet communicator.

"Oh, nothing," said Maria, "Just a little pep talk."

"Okay," said Sean. She wasn't going to elaborate at all. "Alright, is everybody ready?" He said again.

"Ready!" Kevin said.

"Affirmative!" Daisuke added.

"Ready!" Maria said.

"Okay!" Hitomi said.

"All righty then," said Sean. He produced a red card with a magnetic stripe on it. "Access Cards, ready!"

"_Ready!_"

"Let's go!" With that, the Rangers dropped into their respective Zords. The cockpits themselves were sort of small, but they were kind of cozy. Behind them, their respective colors lit up on a panel behind them. "Swipe Access cards!" A card swipe appeared on the instrument panels before the Rangers, to the right of each Zord's steering wheel.

"_Got it!_" The Rangers then swiped their Access cards and the massive engines of their GP Zords roared to life, louder than any auto race.

"I like the sound of that!" said Kevin.

"Alright guys, let's roll out!" Sean said again. The massive doors to the hangar opened up, revealing the Japanese countryside. The base must have been close to the Tokyo city limits. In the distance, Mt Fuji could be seen. "GT Racer, roll out!" A massive race-car like Zord, mostly colored red, rolled out of the massive garage.

"Touring Racer, roll out!" Kevin cried. A massive, touring car Zord, colored mostly blue, rolled out of the massive garage.

"Mountain Hauler, roll out!" Daisuke cried. A large, green-colored pick-up truck rolled out of the garage next.

"Haz Runner, roll out!" Maria said. A yellow-colored, massive HazMat truck rolled out of the garage.

"Am Chaser, roll out!" Hitomi said. A large, mostly white-colored ambulance rolled out of the garage, before the garage doors closer.

Back in the control room, Col. Greene watched the GP Zords move out of the garage. A large staff of controllers watched not only the Zords, but the object approaching Mt. Fuji. From what it looked like, the object was relatively large, but it wasn't moving fast enough to cause a massive impact once it landed. "Rangers," he said. "The object has not moved and it appears to be resting somewhere near the base of Mount Fuji."

"Roger!" said Sean. "All right guys, you heard the man!"

"So it means its 40 miles from Tokyo?" Kevin asked just to be clear.

"Most likely," Sean replied. "Colonel, how fast can these things go?"

"Over 200 mph," Col. Greene replied. "And that's just the minimum."

"Nice!" Sean said. "All right guys, let's move!"

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX :-:-:-:

"Is the object almost ready?" Elbeth asked a sergeant Suitroop as he gazed at the peak of Mt. Fuji.

"It will be ready shortly," the Suitroop replied. "Also, we have detected five large vehicles inbound to the mountain."

"Oh?" Elbeth asked, sounding intrigued. "Do you think it's the Power Rangers?"

"We suspect it may be," said the Suitroop. "Early indications appear to be that they are large-scale versions of human automobiles, and that is all we know."

"Monitor the situation," Elbeth said. "And if you do attack them, wait until they get here. I want to see these vehicles."

"Yes sir," the Suitroop said as it saluted. Then it left Elbeth alone to ponder the situation.

"Well, this might be an interesting development."

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

"Five more minutes!" Sean called over the intercom. "Get ready!"

"Any updates on the object yet?" Maria asked.

"_None yet_," Col. Greene said over the radio. "_Be on guard_."

"You heard the man," said Sean. "Alright, 'V' formation, on the double!"

"_Got it_!" On Sean's order, all five Grand Prix Zords, which had at first been in a single-file line, shifted and settled into a 'V' formation, much like a flock of birds. The Zords stayed in that position for five more minutes, which is when Col. Greene contacted them again.

"_The_ _object is starting to radiate heat!_" He said over the radio again. "_Be prepared!_"

"Yes, sir!" Sean replied. "Alright, stop here!" The Zords then started to slow down before coming to a full stop, just outside a small village. The Rangers waited patiently for the object, finally noticing a round object in the sky above Mt. Fuji. "What's the situation?" Sean asked.

"_It should land a mile from your current location,_" Col. Greene replied. "_I suggest you stay where you are for now until it lands._"

"Understood," Sean replied before switching off the radio. Then he switched to the intercom. "Hitomi," he said.

Hitomi was caught off guard by Sean's sudden statement. 'What is it?" She asked nervously, as if she had done something wrong.

"What were you and Maria talking about earlier?" He asked. Did he notice? Wait, of course he did, otherwise he wouldn't be asking! Hitomi swallowed nervously and took a deep breath before saying,

"Nothing, really."

"You sure?" He replied, "Because it took you a while to get to your Zords."

"I'm fine," Hitomi replied. "I'm trying to focus here."

Sean shook his head. Hitomi couldn't see him roll his eyes under his Ranger helmet, but it didn't matter anyway. What mattered now what whatever was coming.

"_That thing is opening!_" A voice on the radio said. This one was not Col. Greene, but it didn't matter anyway.

"Get ready!" Sean called. "Let's roll!" The Zords then began to move forward again, this time to meet whatever was in that meteor.

Elbeth watched the Zords with interest. These things were larger than any Terran vehicle, which meant that they were most likely going to stand up to the Kel monster. But the monster didn't matter to him, anyhow. Now all he needed to do was see just how good these Power Rangers were and then... well, let's not get too hasty here. "Prepare for battle," he said to a commanding Suitroop. The Suitroop bowed before running off.

"_Something's inside that thing,_" said the operator on the other end. "_We're scanning for life signs now… it's reptilian!_" The object was shaking and starting to glow as if something was heating it up from the inside. The shaking got more violent and it was starting to break apart.

"On your guard guys!" Sean called over the radio. The Zords slowed down to a slower pace, mainly so they wouldn't make some mistake when examining the object, or it wouldn't cause any damage to their zord.

"Why hasn't it opened yet?" Maria asked.

"Whatever is inside it must be struggling to get out," said Kevin.

"Whatever it was," said Sean. "Stay on your guard."

"You keep saying that," said Daisuke. "We know what to do."

"I'm just saying it to remind everyone, Rich Boy!" Sean shot back. "I just—holy shit, it's moving!" The large object suddenly shuddered, and burst open and a beam of red energy blasted into the air. The Rangers watched in amazement as the object opened and a large, reptilian monster emerged. "Holy shit, that's Godzilla!" Sean said. Daisuke's image appeared on the screen next to him.

"That's not Godzilla!" Daisuke shouted back. "Godzilla doesn't have a big unicorn horn on his head and he doesn't have hair!"

"Wouldn't we be sued if it was Godzilla?" asked Kevin.

"Well, whatever it is, it looks dangerous!" Sean said. The lizard-like-thing raised its head and let out a loud roar that traveled across the terrain. It did indeed resemble Godzilla somewhat, but did not have the spikes on its back, and as stated previously, had a good-sized mane on its head and back, as well as a unicorn-like horn on its head. Also, its face was a lot more like a T-Rex head. "Godzilla's lawyers are gonna be mad about him!" Sean said

"_Focus, Red_!" Col. Greene interrupted. "_You've got more important things to worry about like that big monster in front of you!_"

"Sorry, sir!" Sean replied. "Alright guys, let's get to work!"

"_Right!_"

"Right, just like we practiced, surround and attack!" The five GP Zords broke formation and began to surround the Godzilla-like-thing. The Haz Runner and Am Chaser circled around behind the monster while the Touring Racer and Mountain Hauler attacked from the side. The GT Racer attacked head-on. "Alright, let's see what this baby can do!" Sean said. He searched the dashboard, looking for any thing interesting. That's when he noticed a joystick right next to the gear shift. "Oh, I like the looks of this!" He said. "Rangers! Is there a joystick near your steering wheel?"

"_Yeah!_" They said in unison.

"Give them a try," he said. "I'll go first!" Sean grabbed his joystick and pressed a button on his dashboard, causing a targeting computer to pop up in front of him. "Lock on!" The target zeroed in on the monster, and flashed red, indicating it was locked on. Sean then pressed a button on the joystick, causing a series of missiles to pop out of the car's side. Then, several missiles launched at the monster, striking it. The monster writhed in pain, and quickly turned to Sean.

"I think that got its attention!" Maria said. "Let's try it, Hitomi!"

"Got it!" The two also pressed the button on their joystick, and just like Sean, their Zords fired missiles hidden in their chassis at the monster. The monster roared, and then swung its tail at Maria and Hitomi, but the two avoided the attack, backing up just in time before the tail struck them. "That was close!" Hitomi said.

"Rich Boy and I will take it from here!" Kevin said. The Touring Racer and Mountain Hauler also closed in before launching their missiles. The missiles hit the target, but it was becoming obvious that the missiles weren't exactly helping that much. "Oh shite," said the Irish Blue Ranger. "I think we've made him mad!"

"Then get the hell out of there!" Sean said, slipping into an Irish accent. Immediately, Kevin and Daisuke backed up their Zords while the monster brought its tail down on the spot where they were.

"Fools!" Elbeth said. "Their weapons won't harm the Kel monster!" Elbeth watched the Rangers and their Zords struggle against the Kel monster to no avail. The Rangers were helpless.

"Dammit!" Kevin yelled as he dodged an incoming blast from the monster. "You said that thing wasn't Godzilla, Rich Boy!" He shouted to Daisuke.

"It is not Godzilla!" The Japanese Green Ranger replied as he maneuvered the Mountain Hauler around an incoming blast.

"Then why the hell is he breathing fire on us!" Kevin replied.

"I know not, so I cannot answer that!" Daisuke shouted.

"Kevin! Rich Boy!" Sean, the American Red Ranger shouted. "Quit arguing and focus!"

"Sorry buddy!" Kevin replied. He fired another volley of missiles at the monster, this time aiming for the head. But the monster again used its breath weapon to destroy the missiles. Now Kevin was almost out of those.

"Dammit!" Sean angrily shouted. What was making the situation worse was that he had no way to get the Rangers into any formation right now, because the monster would attack them before they had a chance. "That's three fights we've been in, and we keep losing at the beginning! Hitomi! Maria! Do you two copy?"

"Loud and clear!" Maria shouted. "And we're having equal trouble here, too!"

"I'm fine!" Hitomi replied. The Japanese Pink Ranger maneuvered her Am Chaser around the monster. "Oh dear, this is scary." She said to herself.

"Hitomi, are you okay!" Sean said.

"I think so," said Hitomi.

"What's going on there!?" He shouted back. "What's wrong!? Hitomi!" First off, why was he so worried about her? Second, what the hell was wrong with Am Chaser?

"Maria," she said. "Remember when I said I was nervous?"

"_Si_," she replied. "I'm guessing you're scared now?"

"Very much!" Hitomi replied. "I'm not sure if I can handle this!"

"I'm sure you can!" Maria said. "Just believe in yourself, _chica_!" She maneuvered the Haz Runner around another blast from the monster.

"Right, I can do this," Hitomi said to herself. "I can do this!" She turned her steering wheel, maneuvering the Am Chaser towards the monster. Bad move. "Oh great, bad idea!"

"Hitomi!" Daisuke shouted. His sister was in the monster's firing path! And it was going to blast her!

"HITOMI!" Maria shouted. Her friend was going to die! She needed to move, now!

"Oh, no!" Hitomi turned her steering wheel just in time, avoiding the blast from the monster. She sighed in relief, knowing that she just dodged a massive bullet.

"Good driving Pink," said Sean, as he also let out a sigh of relief. "Alright Rangers, regroup!" The five Grand Prix Zords regrouped in front of the monster.

"So now what?" Kevin asked.

"I say we kick it up a notch, that's what!" Sean replied. "Time to bring 'em together!"

"FINALLY!" Kevin shouted. "I was waiting for you to say that!"

"Access cards, ready!" He shouted, producing an access card.

"_Ready!_" The other Rangers shouted, producing their cards.

"SWIPE!" The Rangers swiped their cards, causing some lights to start flashing, indicating the Megazord sequence had begun; now to deal with the big, ugly monster. "Harpoons, ready!" Sean shouted. The zords produced some missiles out of their chassis again, launching them again. This time, they had a cable attached to them that tied up the monster. "That oughta tie him up," said Sean. Excuse the bad pun. "Alright, Megazords sequence, online!"

The five GP Zords gathered in front of the tied-up monster. From a distance, Elbeth watched with interest.

"Engage!" Sean ordered. The Haz Runner and Am Chaser executed a three-point turn and lined up side-by-side in front of the Mountain Hauler, the Haz Runner on the left and Am Chaser on the right. The Mountain Hauler's front split in two and a pair of short extensions popped out of the grill, before the Mountain Hauler joined with the two vehicles. Then, the Bus Racer split in two and drove up to each side of the Mountain Hauler.

Then a panel on each half tore off and exposed elbow joints, and out popped a pair of fists from the rear of the Touring Racer. The two halves joined with the Mountain Hauler on each side, forming what looked like arms. Now, it was GT Racer's turn. The Racer Zord drove up tot he truck bed of the Mountain Hauler, and using a ramp, drove into it and docked with the Zord. The large wing on the back retracted into the body. The lights on top of the Mountain Hauler slid back and folded down on top of the GT Racer. Now the large mass was complete.

"Fire rockets!" said a voice at mission control. Underneath the object, massive rockets fired, propelling the bulk upright. The Haz Runner and Am Chaser's cabs stayed still, forming feet for the large robot. The rear compartment of the GT Racer removed from the body, folding backwards, revealing a head. The eyes resembled goggles, and the face mask was solid. No mouth piece. A pair of wheel-like panels on the side completed it. Finally, the robot was upright. The Megazord let out some steam, ready to fight.

"_Grand Prix Megazord, online!_" The Rangers shouted inside the Megazord cockpit. They had some individual pods, like Indy Car cockpits, only wider. Kevin, Sean and Daisuke were lined up in the front, Maria and Hitomi in the back. The Rangers controlled the Megazord with steering wheels.

"Interesting," said Elbeth as he watched the Megazord transform.

The Haz Runner and Am Chaser form the right and left legs, respectively. The Touring Racer formed the arms. The Mountain Hauler made up a bulk of the body, and the GT Racer formed the rest of the body and the head. "Alright guys, let's see what this thing can do!" Sean said. The Megazord then got into a ready stance.

At that point, the Kel monster freed itself from its bindings. The monster roared, probably disoriented from the fall. "Let's get this sucker's attention!" Sean said. "Hey you!" He shouted at the monster. It got its attention, alright. "Hey ug-ly! You alien piece of shit, you can't beat us! You can't destroy anything if your life depended on it you worthless piece of crap!"

"Sean, what are you doing?" Maria asked with a slightly nervous tone.

"Simple," he replied. "I'm making it mad!" And it worked. The monster rushed the Megazord blindly, with the Megazord reacting by simply stepping aside, allowing the monster to run right past it.

"I guess there is a method to your madness," said Maria. "Watch it, he's getting up!" The monster recovered quickly, getting up off the ground and swinging its tail at the Grand Prix Megazord. The tail struck the Megazord twice, causing it to recoil. Inside the cockpit, the Rangers felt the attack.

"Stupid beast!" Sean shouted. The monster swung its tail again, but Sean would have none of it. "Grab the tail!" He shouted.

The Megazord grabbed the tail of the Kel monster, making it confused. Then, it began to spin around, holding on to the end of the tail all the while. Before long, it flung the monster like a hammer throw at a track and field event. The monster landed a good distance away, luckily missing a nearby village. No doubt the villagers were frightened to death about that.

"We have to get away from the villages," said Kevin. "Over there!" He pointed to a location a mile from where they were. The Megazord then went over to that location, far enough from any nearby villages. Enough room to fight.

"Hey ugly!" Sean shouted. It got the monster's attention again. "Come and get us!" The monster, now enraged, stood up and charged the Megazord. This time, the Megazord clotheslined the monster, sending it to the ground. The Megazord picked the monster up and flung it about half a mile away. "Come on, get up!" Sean shouted. The monster got up and slashed at the Megazord. The Megazord blocked the attack with its blue-colored arm.

"He's a strong one!" Hitomi said as the Megazord struggled to keep the monster at bay. Then the Megazord threw the Kel monster away, making it land a good distance from the Rangers.

"Our turn!" Sean said. The Megazord advanced on the Kel monster as it got up. The Megazord gave the monster a mighty punch to the head, causing it to fall backwards. "Man, this thing is weak!" He said.

"Exactly," said Elbeth as he watched.

"Alright, ugly!" Sean said. "Get up!" The monster again got up, this time letting out its breath attack at the Megazord. The Zord recoiled, as did the Rangers inside the cockpit. "Okay, that didn't work out as I had hoped!" Sean said.

"_Rangers!_" Col. Greene called over the radio. "_We're sending you the Grand Prix Megazord Saber. It should help._"

"Got it!" Sean said. "Send it!" In front of the Megazord there was a flash of light before a large sword appeared in the ground. "Nice!" He said.

"Interesting," Elbeth commented.

"Will this work?" said Hitomi.

"I believe so," said Kevin. The Megazord picked up the sword in front of it and held it up. The monster roared and charged the Megazord but was met by a nasty slash from the Megazord before the Megazord again gave it a nasty backhanded slash, causing the monster to fall down.

"Time to finish this!" Sean shouted. "Grand Prix Megazord Strike, ready!"

"_Ready!_" The large sword began to glow, and a series of jets lifted the Megazord of the ground. "_Grand Prix Megazord Strike!_" Everyone said in unison. The Megazord then launched itself at the monster. "_Checkered Flag!_" The Megazord slashed at the monster with both hands on the sword. The sword cut right throw the monster, sending sparks flying. The Megazord stopped a few hundred yards away and posed in confident victory as the Kel monster fell to the ground and exploded spectacularly. "_Yeah!_" The Rangers celebrated inside the cockpit of the Megazord, hooting hollering and high-fiving each other.

"_Great job Rangers,_" said Col. Greene. "_You did good out there._"

"Thank you sir!" Sean replied.

"Impressive," Elbeth said, watching the Rangers. "Now it's my turn." With that, he stepped out from his cover, about several hundred yards from the Grand Prix Megazord. Now out in the open, he lifted his hands to his mouth and called out, "Oh, Rangers! Come out to plaaaayyy-aaaayyyy!"

_To be continued_


	7. A Harsh Defeat

Power Rangers GPX, Episode 7: A Harsh Defeat

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"Oh, Rangers! Come out and plaaayyy-aaaayyyy!" The voice cut into the Rangers' helmets inside the Grand Prix Megazord.

"Who said that!?" Sean said in the Megazord cockpit. "Show yourself, now!"

"I think we can put him up on screen," said Maria. She pressed a few buttons and a picture of the guy calling them appeared on screen.

"Come out and plaaayyy-aaaayyyy!" The guy called again.

"Oh, so he wants to play, huh?" Sean said. It was obvious that he was itching for a fight now, even though the Rangers just destroyed the Kel monster. "Well then, let's grant his request!

"Do you think we can handle him?" Hitomi said, who was more than a little nervous about their new opponent, since the Rangers didn't know a thing about him. It's actually a smart statement, considering they've never seen this guy before. Not only that, they can't really see him that good on the monitor in front of them. But Kevin wasn't worried one bit.

"I think we can," Kevin replied. "Let's get him!"

"I'm right there with ya!" Sean replied. The two left their seats, followed by the other Rangers. Then all five of them leapt out of the Megazord, landing on the ground in front of their new opponent. The Rangers lined up side-by-side in this order: Kevin, Hitomi, Sean, Maria and Daisuke. In front of them was a guy with blonde hair wearing a military-style uniform. And it wasn't a US Army uniform at all. Well, Hitomi seemed to recognize him.

"Oh my, gosh," said Hitomi. "That's Jadeite!" Once again, the Rangers groaned at Hitomi's comments again, especially Sean.

"No, that is not Jadeite!" Sean said sharply. "Just because he looks like the character from _Sailor Moon _does not mean that he is the same guy!"

"But he looks exactly like him," said Hitomi, trying to justify her words. "Even down to the uniform!"

"Excuse me!" The Jadeite look-a-like said, grabbing the Rangers' attention. "But I believe I called you out."

"Alright then," said Sean. "Alright Blondie, who are you, and what do you want from us?" He said as he pointed at him.

"Simple," the blondie replied. "I'm here to fight you!"

"Okay, that's obvious," said Sean. "Then who are you!"

"My name?" He said. "My name is Elbeth, and I will be the one to defeat you!"

"Then change your uniform first, you look ridiculous!" Sean replied.

The other Rangers snickered, which drew the ire of Elbeth.

"Keep talking!" Elbeth replied, "It will only make it much more satisfying when I prove to you the superiority of the Elves!"

"Oh, so you _are_ Elf," Sean replied. "That answers that question."

"Now I must ask you something," he said. "Could you please introduce yourselves?"

Under his helmet, Sean made an annoyed face. That roll call? He hated it. "No! No roll call!" He said. Elbeth made a face of mock sadness.

"Oh, that's too bad," he said sarcastically. That just made Sean even angrier. "Because I was really looking forward to—"

"ALRIGHT!" Sean shouted, not wanting Elbeth to keep going. "We'll do it one last time! GPX, Red!" He shouted.

"GPX, Blue!" Kevin shouted.

"GPX, Green!" Daisuke shouted.

"GPX, Yellow!" Maria shouted.

"GPX, Pink!" Hitomi shouted.

"_Power Rangers! GP__X__!_" And like before, the Rangers posed and some explosions highlighted the moment. Elbeth laughed, making Sean even angrier.

"What the hell's so funny, pretty boy?" He asked with venom on his tone.

"That was… interesting," Elbeth replied. "Although now it's time I test your skills in battle!"

"Gladly!" Sean said. "I suggest you pray to whatever god you worship now, because we're gonna kick your ass!"

"My, you're spirited," said Elbeth. "Very well, then. SUITROOPS!" Behind him, a platoon of Suitroops appeared which caught the Rangers off guard— at first. The grey-and-black robots, with skull-like faces, encircled the Rangers, preparing to attack. But the Rangers were unfazed.

"Oh, a warm-up, huh?" Sean said. "Very well, then. GRAND PRIX WEAPONS!" The Rangers pressed their belt buckles and their respective Grand Prix Weapons materialized in front of them. Sean with his GT Sword, Kevin his Touring Cannon, Daisuke his Mountain Staff, Maria her Haz Daggers, and Hitomi her Am Bow. "Let's get 'em!" Sean shouted.

"_Right!"_ The Rangers charged the Suitroops, and the Suitroops charged them, as well. The two forces met in the middle and began fighting.

Sean slashed at a Suitroop, before slashing another one, grunting and letting out _kiai _after _kiai_. Another Suitroop brought its sword down on him, but he dodged it easily and kicked it in the back, sending it tumbling into another mass of Suitroop bodies. With a _Matrix_-type move, he dodged a Suitroop Sword before flipping it over. And with a quick spin, he took out another group of Suitroops. "Let's see what this baby can do!" he said referring to his GT Sword. "Colonel, any attacks?"

"_GT Strike,_" said Col. Greene. "_Give it a try, Red_."

"Nice!" Sean said. "GT Strike, ready!" The sword's blade began to glow red, and the tires on his gloves and boots started spinning. Before long, the grooves began to glow red. "GT STRIKE!" Then, Sean sped forward, a screeching sound adding to it. The Suitroops recoiled, but Sean slashed with a two-handed back-hand, being right-handed. Then Sean stopped and posed in confident victory as the Suitroops behind him fell to the ground and exploded. "Fuck yeah!"

"Take this!" Kevin shouted as he fired his Touring Cannon. A swift kick to a Suitroop on his 9:00 told the Suitroops he wasn't distracted. He then pointed his good-sized, car-shaped, blue-colored cannon at a group of Suitroops. "Take this, you piles of junk! I'm gonna send you to Tír na nÓg!" Kevin fired his cannon at the group, blasting away until the Suitroops were mostly piles of circuitry. Then, he pointed it at another group, blasting them again. "Does this gun have any special attacks?" He asked Col. Greene.

"_It's called 'Turbo Blast, Blue,_" Col. Greene replied.

"Sounds good!" Kevin replied. He pointed his cannon at another group of Suitroops. "Turbo Blast, ready!" The Suitroops recoiled, but there was no escape. "_FIRE!_" He pulled the trigger and a massive ball of energy was fired at the Suitroops. Much like Sean, Kevin posed in confident victory after the Suitroops themselves were destroyed.

Daisuke swung his green-colored, _naginata-_like staff at some Suitroops. Using the pole-like weapon as a hook, he tripped up a Suitroop before swinging it around and slashing at one, sending sparks flying. He blocked one attack from behind, then swung the Suitroop around and stabbed the rotroop in its chest. Swinging his staff above his head, he brought it down on the Suitroops, cutting several of them in the staff's path. "Any attacks?" He said to Col. Greene.

"_Tornado Spin_, _Green,_" Col. Greene replied.

"Sounds redundant," Daisuke said. "But I'll give it a try." He held the weapon above his head and began to spin it around like a helicopter blade. Then he brought it down and began to spin himself. "Tornado Spin!" He called out before spinning around like the Tazmanian Devil and striking several Suitroops in his path. Then he stopped and propped his staff up and posed in confident as the Suitroops behind him exploded.

A quick block of a Suitroop sword with her Haz Daggers and then a quick stab was enough for Maria to take out an attacking Suitroop. With one dagger in her left hand she blocked another Suitroop and stabbed the same one in the gut, kicking a Suitroop that was behind her all the while. She tabbed two Suitroops on her 3 and 9 o' clock sides respectively, then once again kicking a third in front of her. "Damn rotroops," she to no one in particular. "Why can't they ever make them stronger? Colonel! Do I have any special abilities like Sean and Kevin?"

"_The ability for the Haz Daggers is called 'Lightning Shot',"_ said Col. Greene. "_Use it wisely, Yellow._"

"_¡Bueno!_" She said in response. "_¡Vamos, muchachos!_" She said, gesturing for the Suitroops to come to her. The Suitroops took the bait and charged her. The blades on her yellow-colored daggers began to glow and sparkle with electricity. Then, she took one dagger by the blade, like a circus knife-thrower. "Lightning Shot!" She shouted as she threw the first one and then the second one. Each struck a Suitroop in the chest and continued to sparkle until the Suitroops exploded. "_¡Mucho bueno!_" She shouted as she too posed.

It's not exactly easy to use a bow when in close-quarter combat; which is what Hitomi had to deal with. No matter, a little gymnastics and some quick thinking allowed her to use her Am Bow both as a long-range weapon and as a melee weapon. She flipped backwards to avoid a Suitroop sword, but landed in a crowd of them. No matter. She spun the wheels on the ends of her gauntlets and took out the Suitroops with them. With another quick flip, she took out a couple Suitroops with a good kick. "What can this bow do?" She asked. Col. Greene.

"_Pink_, _your attack is called 'Energy Shot,_" he replied.

"Perfect!" She said as she notched an arrow into her bow. "Energy Shot, ready!" The arrow began to glow pink, alerting her Suitroop opponents to the danger of the attack. The Suitroops charged her, but she cried out, "Energy Shot!" And she fired at the Suitroops. The pink-colored arrow sped through the air and cut through the crowd of Suitroops. Much like the other Rangers, she turned around and posed in victory as the Suitroops exploded.

"Alright pretty boy, it's your turn!" Sean shouted. The Rangers had successfully dispatched Elbeth's Suitroops and now were ready to face him. The five of them lined up in front of Elbeth, ready to attack. Elbeth, however, was not worried in the least. And that made the Rangers slightly nervous.

"Well then," he said. "Give it your best shot! I await your attempts!"

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Kevin asked Sean. "We don't know what this guy's made of."

"I think we can take him," said Sean. "Easily."

"You sure?" Kevin asked.

"I'm positive!" Sean replied. "Now then, let's get 'im. LET'S GO!"

"_Right!" _They replied and following Sean's lead, charged Elbeth. Elbeth, meanwhile, stood his ground like Stonewall Jackson as the Rangers charged him, brandishing their weapons. His face showed a sinister smile. In his hand, a sword, much like Ragnar's, materialized and he saluted the Rangers with it before getting into a fighting stance.

"COME ON!" Sean shouted as he got there first. The blade of Sean's GT Sword began to glow, and the wheels at the ends of his gauntlets and the tops of his boots began to spin, glowing red. His attack had begun. "GT STRIKE!" He shouted as he swung his glowing sword at Elbeth. Elbeth took his sword and with one swift move—blocked Sean's attack. "What!" He shouted.

Elbeth just smiled in a sinister manner. Underneath his visor, Sean's eyes widened just when Elbeth knocked him backwards using an energy blast or something. Sean flew back about 10 feet, landing on his backside in front of the Rangers. "Sean!" Kevin shouted once he landed. "You okay?"

"I'm okay," he replied as he groaned and got up. Elbeth, meanwhile, laughed at the Rangers.

"What was that?" He taunted.

"Fuck you!" Sean replied. "You're gonna get it!" Sean charged Elbeth again, but his anger had gotten the best of him. Elbeth smiled, as his plan had worked. Sean charged him again, yelling like a mad man and swung his sword at Elbeth, but it was again blocked by the general. Elbeth then threw Sean back before the Red Ranger charged him again. It was then that Elbeth gave Sean a nasty back hand, striking him in the chest and sending sparks flying.

Underneath his helmet, Sean's face showed a look of agony as he screamed in pain before landing on the ground.

Back at the base, the staff began to panic at Sean's agonized screams and groans. "Run a medical check!" Col. Greene shouted. Although his face showed one of calm, his tone had a hint of worry on his voice. A doctor near him looked over a computer screen before shaking his head.

"No major injuries," he said. "But he is in pain."

Sean, meanwhile, changed his expression from agonized to angry. He was too damn stubborn to lose to this pretty boy. No fucking way! "Interesting," Elbeth said as Sean got up again. "Ragnar was right. You _are _stubborn." At that point, Elbeth raised his sword. "But also stupid."

"I'm not stupid," Sean said. "I just don't like losing." With the other Rangers watching, Sean charged Elbeth again, before swinging his sword at him. This time, Elbeth found it more difficult to land a strike on Sean, who would not go down with out a fight. Sean hacked and slashed at Elbeth, trying to keep the Elf general on his heels. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

Once again, Elbeth landed a strike on Sean. But unlike before, he made sure the Red Ranger would go down, slashing at Sean multiple times. The Red Ranger screamed in pain. It felt like no pain he had ever felt. In his helmet, he could hear the medical staff at the base frantically trying to diagnose him. His face underneath the helmet was one of just pure agony. Finally, Elbeth landed the finishing blow, sending Sean flying backwards among a shower of sparks. Sean then landed about three feet in front of the Rangers. His suit was heavily damaged, showing the circuitry and wires of the robotic exoskeleton underneath the super-fiber.

"_SEAN!_" The Rangers shouted. Kevin, who was usually calm, had a face of pure rage underneath his helmet. Remember when it was said he was just as hot-blooded as Sean? Well, you're about to find out why.

"YOU BASTARD!" He shouted. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" At that point, he dropped his Touring cannon and drew his Octane blaster before changing it into his Grand Prix sword. At that point, he charged Elbeth, also screaming like a mad man. Elbeth smiled again. This should be easy.

The swords of Elbeth and the Blue Ranger clashed. Kevin swung his GP Sword at Elbeth, but missed each time, or were just blocked or parried by the Elf general's crystal sword. _How is he able to use that?_ Kevin thought to himself. But he didn't get much of a chance as a blast from Elbeth sent the Irish Blue Ranger flying backwards like Sean.

"I expected better from you!" Elbeth said, taunting him. "Surely, you can handle me!"

"We'll see about that!" Kevin shouted as he got up and charged Elbeth again. Much like before, he aggressively attacked Elbeth, trying to catch the Elf off guard. When that didn't work, he decided to fight him with hand-to-hand combat. Looking for an opening, he reverse-roundhouse kicked Elbeth, but the general blocked the attack and flipped Kevin on his back.

"Come on!" He shouted. Kevin got up again and charged Elbeth, but it was no use. Just like Sean, Kevin found himself on the wrong end of Elbeth's attacks, as the general hacked and slashed at Kevin's suit before he sent the finishing blow, sending him back several feet amongst a shower of sparks. And much like Sean, he had a look of agony on his face and a heavily damaged suit.

"Let's get him!" Maria shouted as she and Hitomi charged him. Elbeth shook his head at the Yellow and Pink Rangers coming at him. He swung his sword again, striking trooph Maria and Hitomi at the same time.

"I must commend you Rangers," he said. "You fight well and you refuse to—" At that point, he blocked an attack by Maria, who had gotten up while he was talking. "Impressive," he said as his blade locked with Maria's dagger. Using this opportunity, Maria thrust her dagger at Elbeth. The dagger did strike him, but only struck his jacket. "Well. You managed to lay a blow on me," he said sarcastically. He then swept Maria's feet out from under her, and then swung his sword at Maria. "But you left yourself open for attack." Maria got up again, but like Sean and Kevin, was subject to the savage attack of Elbeth's sword, sending her backward, screaming in pain and her suit heavily damaged.

Hitomi didn't fair much better. With Elbeth distracted, she fired her bow at him, but the general dodged the attack before coming up to her. Underneath her helmet, her face showed a look of terror before Elbeth again subjected her to the same beat-down he had given her friends. Now there were four Power Rangers laying on the ground, writhing in agony and wearing damaged suits. All that was left was Daisuke. "Well, Green?" Elbeth said in a taunting voice. "Are you going to strike me?"

Daisuke raised his staff above his head and charged Elbeth. With the length of his staff, Daisuke was able to keep some distance between himself and the blonde-haired general. "Your teammates are all down," Elbeth said. "I would expect you to give up by now."

"I'm stubborn like the American," Daisuke replied.

"I see," Elbeth replied as he dodged some thrusts from Daisuke's _naginata_. He then swung his staff above his head and brought it down on Elbeth, but the general blocked the attack.

"Not bad," he said. He then thrust his sword at Daisuke, but the Japanese Green Ranger blocked his attacks. It seemed as if Daisuke would save the day.

But, that did not last. Elbeth managed to wrest Daisuke's weapon from his hands, then subjected Daisuke to the same beatdown he had given Sean, Kevin, Maria and Hitomi. And, much like them, Daisuke was sent backwards in a hail of sparks.

"This is pathetic!" Elbeth said. By now, the Rangers were all struggling to stand up; trying to handle the pain they had just received. What made matters worse was the heavily damaged suits. The helmets were fine; it was the suits that were the problem. There was exposed circuitry and wires all over. While there was no risk—at the moment—to the Rangers, the suit was still in bad shape.

Back at the base, Col. Greene was scrambling for a jet to get to the Rangers. "Get the Sonic Jet out there!" He shouted. "Hurry! Get them out of there, now!"

"It was launched two minutes ago!" A soldier shouted. "It should be there soon!"

"Then get it there faster!" He shouted. "Get the Rangers out of there!"

"And now, to finish this!" Elbeth shouted. He held his hand out and a ball of glowing energy began to manifest. Underneath their helmets, the Rangers' eyes all widened as Elbeth sent the ball of energy at them. There was a massive explosion, and the Rangers were sent flying again.

"Damn it!" Sean shouted in agony. Although he could hear that none of them were suffering major injuries, he was still in pain. And despite his stubborn streak, he knew they were beat. "We gotta get out of here," he said. The other Rangers looked at him as him he was crazy. "We need to retreat NOW!"

"Sean, what are you—" Maria was about to object, but the sound of a jet interrupted her. A red and black-colored jet swooped down and fired some rockets near Elbeth. Turns out they were smoke bombs and they created a smokescreen as it hovered above the Rangers and let down a rope ladder.

Elbeth, meanwhile, shielded himself from the smokescreen. In anger, he swung his sword and created a strong wind to blow the smoke away. Once the smoke was gone, his face changed to one of anger. They're gone! Suddenly, he could feel a strong wind on blowing on his and he looked up, noticing a blue-colored figure walk into a human jet, before the door closed and the jet sped away to the east, towards the city of Tokyo. Elbeth watched in disappointment as his opponents fled the scene. Oh, well. He could kill them some other day.

"Fuck!" Sean shouted as he sat down on the couch in the Rangers' townhouse. After Sean was seen spitting out blood, the Rangers had been rushed to the infirmary in the base—turns out he was fine. In fact, all the Rangers had escaped with no major injuries—save for Kevin, whose stitches on his left leg re-opened. So right now, after the Rangers had gone through some medical tests, they were back in their townhouse, still wearing their heavily-damaged Ranger suits—sans helmet—licking their proverbial wounds.

"Oy," said Kevin. "That was brutal." There was no need for an exclamation point. The statement was just fine on its own.

"I'm gonna be sore for a week," said Hitomi.

"I think he nearly killed us," Maria said. Those words were enough to make the mood even sourer. The fact that they had just barely escaped death is not a thought they wanted to have on their minds right now. It's not really a good thing to be thinking about unless you just lived through D-Day.

"Jeez," said Kevin. "And what's worse is the suits are damaged."

"They're so damaged that we can't even morph out of them for two hours!" Sean said. That was surprising.

"How is it that these things are so damaged that we can't morph out of them?" Maria asked.

"I'm not sure," said Kevin. "But I think Col. Greene hinted we might not be able to use these suits again."

"Goddamit," Sean said. "We just start fighting and now it looks like we're done fighting before we even get started!" The statement was not exactly unfounded. The suits were heavily damaged, as mentioned so many times previously. While it's strange for a Power Rangers team to suffer such heavy damage, it certainly happened here.

"I'm not sure if it's stupid or not," said Hitomi. "_Super Sentai _never changed their suits after a few battles."

"Neither did _Power Rangers_," said Sean.

"Well if we do," said Maria. "Good riddance to this design. It's ugly." Her attempt to lighten up the mood helped only a little—when Daisuke interjected.

"And it wouldn't have happened if _I _had been in command," he said as he stood up from his seat. The other Rangers all looked at him in complete surprise. Sean especially, and he got angry.

"What'd you say?" he asked in a hostile tone as he stood up.

"You heard me American," he said, not even bothering with Sean's name—either his first _or _last name. "You saw what happened against Elbeth. I was the one who did the best against him. I should be the leader!"

"And you deserve props for that," Sean said. "But that doesn't mean you can say such mutinous things about me!" He got up and got in Daisuke's face, clearly angry.

"We wouldn't have gotten beat had we not rushed into battle without knowing our enemy's capabilities!" Daisuke shouted.

"So I make a mistake, big, fat, hairy, fucking, deal!" Sean replied. "We all make mistakes, I admit. I should have thought about what I was doing before fighting Elbeth. But that does not mean that we would have fared better if you were in charge!"

"How so?" Daisuke asked.

"You know how!" Sean shouted back. "Our first fight against the Rhino guy, you panicked and I took command! You can't lead, Rich Boy! Had you been in charge we would have been killed!"

"You don't know that!" Daisuke shouted back. "Like I said, we would have—"

"You're essentially saying the same thing," Sean said, interrupting him. "You don't know if we would have done better if you were the Red Ranger! And where the hell is this coming from!"

"It's been there," Daisuke replied. "It just got worse just today."

"Oh, I get it," Sean said. "You're still sore about not getting the Red Ranger suit! Face it Rich Boy, I'm the Red Ranger, you're not, so GET THE FUCK OVER IT!"

"I WILL NOT GET OVER IT!" Daisuke shouted back. "I was supposed to be the Red Ranger, not some American like you!"

"Life isn't always fair, asshole!" Sean replied. "I'm the hockey captain here, not you! I've had experience as a leader. You don't! All you have is the backing of a rich family and that's it! And yes, I made a mistake this one time! It will not happen again!"

"An athletic captain doesn't count! And besides, it would never have happened if the Project had done what they promised to do and made me Red Ranger!"

"Oh. Here we go again!" Sean said in a mocking tone of voice. "Like I said, get the fuck over it! It's in the past, this is the present."

"Guys, please, stop this," said Maria, who had her hand on her forehead. "We have to stop focusing on the past and start focusing on what our next move is going to be."

"Maria's right," said Kevin. "Can you two please stop fighting?"

"If Rich Boy is willing to," said Sean. "If not, I'm going out to be alone."

"Then I hate to disappoint," said Daisuke. "Because I won't—"

"Alright, that's it!" Sean shouted. Apparently, he had forgotten about the pain he was feeling. "I'm going out to be alone!" He said as he pressed on a little thing tucked behind his ear. At that point, his Ranger helmet re-materialized on his head and he stormed out the door, much to the protests of his teammates, save for Daisuke. Obviously he didn't care one bit. And he expected Hitomi not to, either.

Except he was wrong. Instead, Hitomi didn't want Sean to leave the team. It was a fair worry, after all. But what was also happening was a strange fascination with Sean. Nothing serious, though. "You're following him aren't you?" Daisuke said.

"Maybe," she replied. "I never said I wasn't."

"If you want to follow him, go ahead," said Maria. "We'll wait up for you."

"I'm not sure if you should," said Daisuke. "You should be loyal to the family."

"Family loyalty doesn't have anything to do with this situation," said Hitomi. With that, she also pressed the device behind her ear and her Ranger helmet also materialized. "I'm just worried about a friend." Maria smiled at Hitomi, and Kevin just shrugged. Obviously Maria approved, and Kevin just didn't care. Daisuke, meanwhile, wasn't happy. But, that didn't matter to her, as she walked outside the door and bounded the rest of the way to find Sean.

"She seems to have an independent streak," said Maria. "I think that's good."

Finding a needle in a haystack is one thing, but try finding a guy wearing red spandex in Tokyo. That's even harder. Hitomi had to search a good deal of rooftops in Tokyo just to find Sean. Why rooftops? Probably because it was the only thing she could think of. And it's the best place to be alone when you're still in your Ranger gear and you don't want any unwanted attention drawn to yourself.

It did indeed take some time, but she managed to locate a red figure sitting on a rooftop somewhere in the Shinjuku ward, not too far from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. She shook her head, having found him and pressed the wheel-like feature on her helmet. That, in turn, made her helmet retract into the small device behind her ear. With her helmet now retracted, she walked over to where she thought Sean was sitting. Sure enough, she could see the battle-damaged spandex-like material that he was wearing. She got closer, and saw that he had his helmet off, too. She tried to stay silent, hoping he couldn't tell she was there. Well, she was wrong.

"I know you're there," he said suddenly said. His sudden words startled her, but only slightly. Just a little twitch, and that's it. She was about to leave, but he had other ideas. "You know, if you want to sit down, go ahead. I don't mind." So, she shrugged and sat down next to him. The wrapper of a candy bar was next to him, and he had his arms around his legs, as he didn't have much of a seat. "You know, it's kind of creepy to follow people around," he said.

"I just didn't want to see you make a fool of yourself," she replied. He snickered a little. The sun was setting, although it was behind them, as she could see her shadow. That must have been how he noticed her. She could also hear the sound of the late afternoon traffic, albeit somewhat quieter, mostly due to them being up pretty high.

"Are you going to say anything about Rich Boy?" He asked.

"Well, I wish you would not yell like that," she said.

"Is that all?" Sean asked.

"No," she replied. "I also wish you would not get so close to him like that. And that you would be less bossy."

"Have I really been that bossy?" Sean asked. "Or are you just making that up?"

"You have been kind of a control freak," she said.

"Oh yeah?" He asked. "Name one time."

"During the simulators," she said. "You like to grab the glory for yourself."

"I do not!" He replied. "Okay, maybe a little. Oh, speaking of which, what were you and Maria talking about before the Zord battle?"

"Well," she said, prolonging her word out as if she was thinking about what to say. "I kind of had some fears before. I was afraid I would not drive very well."

"Where the hell did that come from?" Sean asked. His face showed a look of confusion, as if this was never brought up before. Oh, wait. "You never mentioned you have confidence issues."

"Well, since our Red Ranger is so confident," she said. "It would seem kind of silly for a Ranger to have confidence issues."

"Still," he said. "You kind of caught me off guard with that."

"Your personality and my brother's really contrast," she said suddenly. Sean placed his face in his hand at the suddenness of the statement.

"Where the hell did that come from?" He asked. "That was probably the most random thing I've ever heard!"

"Sorry," she said. "But it is true. I mean, he is usually aloof, you are… not. He is usually stiff, you are… passionate."

"I think 'hot-blooded' is the term," Sean said. "I'm hot-blooded. It means I tend to get excited and angered pretty easily."

"You certainly have an anger problem," she said.

"I guess so," he said. There really wasn't much to argue about there; especially after Elbeth got him so angry. "I guess I need to work on my anger problems."

"So are you always like that?" She asked. "Are you, as Maria puts it, an 'asshole'?" Sean snickered again, at the randomness of the question.

"I don't know why she said that," he said. "Yes, I can be an asshole sometimes, but I'm really not that bad."

"Telling me you are not that bad and showing it are different things," she replied.

"Ah, jeez," he said. "Well, you saw the thing with the kid, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah," she said. "But that is only one time."

"Well, the reason I don't like him is because as you saw, he questioned my position as Red Ranger."

"Technically, that means you are admitting you have a bossy streak," she said.

"Whatever," said Sean, "My point is, he acts as though only he deserves to be Red Ranger, even though I have more credentials, even though it was being captain of three different hockey teams and not the military? Has he served in the JSDF?"

"No," she said. "Only our grandfather served in the Imperial Japanese Army. No one else since him has served in the military."

"So your brother hasn't?" She shook her head, 'no'. "Okay, then. And I'm not sure who made that deal that he be Red Ranger."

"So you were play hockey?" She asked. "And you're captain?"

"Yep," he said. "Team's name is the Chicago Steel. It's a junior hockey team and I've been playing on the team through college. Except now I can't, and I spent the last year playing for the UIC club team."

"Is that why you do not like my brother?" She asked.

"Well, that, and my family was not the wealthiest in the world," he replied. "Sure, we could afford stuff and my dad lives in Beverly, which is a well-off neighborhood in Chicago, but we're not—how rich is your family?"

"We own a chain of department stores," she said. "We even own stock in several international department stores like Harrod's and Macy's." As soon as he heard that, Sean's eyes widened in complete shock. He stammered, trying to figure out just what to say.

"That _is _rich," he said. "We're not even close! My mom lives in Lincoln Park, but I don't think that's rich!"

"So what else do you think of my brother?" She asked.

"I think he's a spoiled brat," he replied, taking a bite out his candy bar.

"You know, some might say you feel something else about him," she said as she opened one of his candy bars.

"I don't know, I—oh, you're sick, you know that?" He quickly figured out just what she meant by 'something else'. She laughed, as she clearly got a reaction out of him. He just shook his head and muttered something under his breath.

"So do you hate me?" She asked. Not a bad question, really.

"No," he replied. "I kinda like you. Not romantically, but it's more like you're a nice girl; a lot nicer than him."

"I get that reaction, I guess," she said as she took a bite out her candy bar. "My brother also thinks you're stupid."

"I'm not stupid!" He replied. "I got a 3.25 GPA in high school. I got accepted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison—not sure what'll happen with that—and I can come up with some pretty good plans."

"Really?" She said. "What?"

"Well," Sean said. "Considering Elbeth most likely used that monster as a way to lure us to Mt Fuji, maybe we could set a trap for him."

"Do you have any plans now?" She asked.

"Unfortunately, no," he replied.

"I guess that is a way of looking at things," she said. As the sun continued to set, the two continued their little talk. As the conversation went on, Hitomi gained a new understanding of Sean—even though she gained one earlier—and she started to gain a strange attraction to him. Whether it was friendship or something else, she didn't know. But, it didn't feel bad, anyway.

"What is she doing that is taking so long?" Daisuke asked with some irritation on his voice. Maria and Kevin, however, didn't really seem to care.

"Don't worry about it," said Kevin. "As long as she's with Sean, she'll be fine."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about," Daisuke replied.

"Just relax," said Maria. "She had her reasons, and I'm sure they make sense to her at least."

"I don't want him doing anything to her, though," Daisuke said.

"You make him sound like a rapist," Kevin said. "He's not even close to that. He's got morals, you know."

"He'd better," said Daisuke. "Otherwise, I won't forgive him."

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:

Back in Alfheim, Elbeth stepped into Ragnar's office. The Commander was looking over documents and sipping some wine. "General Elbeth reporting," he said with a salute.

"This had better be good," Ragnar replied. He took a sip of his Elf wine.

"I nearly succeeded in killing the Power Rangers," he said. Ragnar did a spit-take, surprised at this sudden revelation.

"You _what?_" He said, still coughing.

"I nearly succeeded in killing the Power Rangers myself," he repeated.

"Why did you not finish the job?" Ragnar replied, thinking he had failed.

"Because they managed to escape," he replied. "They escaped aboard a high-speed human aircraft before I could give chase. Had the aircraft not arrived, I would have finished them off."

"Really," said Ragnar. "Then why was the Kel monster defeated so easily?"

"That really didn't matter to me," Elbeth said with a smile on his face. Ragnar thought about Elbeth's words until he came to realize something.

He smiled, and then began to laugh lightly. Elbeth's smile grew, as he knew his Commander had figured out his strategy. "So you lured them out with a relatively weak monster and then you nearly killed them?" Ragnar asked. "I must admit Elbeth, it seems I have underestimated you, as well."

"It seems you have," Elbeth replied. But Ragnar was not done.

"Still, that does not mean you do not have a 'longer leash' as these humans say," he said with a very stern look on his face. "If you fail me more, I will not be so easy on you. Is that clear?"

"As clear as you can be," Elbeth said as he bowed. With that, he pivoted around and walked out of the throne room, leaving Commander Ragnar behind. The Commander took another look at his wine glass, lost in his thoughts. But he had just one more question.

"Elbeth!" He called. The general stopped in his tracks—he had not left the throne room just yet, actually—and turned around. "How is it that you were able to defeat them yet we could not?"

"It is simple," he said. "I did not underestimate them." And with that, hew walked out of the throne room, this time leaving Ragnar behind. The blond Elf Commander shook his head and took another sip of his wine.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

"There's no other way around it," said Dr. Wilhelm Morris. Morris was with Col. Alan Green at the UN base under Tokyo. He was an older man, close to 50 years old, despite being one of the scientific leaders of Project Ranger. "We'll need to change to suit."

"I was afraid of this," Col. Greene replied. "I know we're keeping the material, it's the fact we have to change the suit design that I'm not pleased about."

"The damage is too great," Dr. Morris replied. "There's no way they can handle the enemy in their state. They have to be replaced."

"I see," said Col. Greene. "I guess we have no other choice. We'll have to bring the Rangers here to see the new suits."

"I guess so," said Dr. Morris. "I just hope these can handle the enemy."

"We used a backup suit the last time," Col. Greene said. "These new ones shouldn't be too bad."

"I hope so," said Dr. Morris. "We can only hope."

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

End chapter

Just out of habit I decided to keep Elbeth resembling Jadeite. I thought it was funny, anyways. Other than that, there aren't a whole lot of changes that needed to be made with this chapter.


	8. The New Suit

Power Rangers GPX Episode 8: The New Suit

Being a Power Ranger isn't all it's cracked up to be. Well, that's the attitude after getting your ass handed to you just a days prior-which is exactly what the GPX Power Rangers were going through right now. Yesterday they fought the Elven general Elbeth who whipped them like a rented mule and came close to killing them before they escaped. What's more, the suits were so heavily damaged that the engineers and designers with Project Ranger found they couldn't fix the suits, forcing them to go to a new suit. Now usually, neither _Power Rangers _nor _Super Sentai _does this, but this story is different. Of course, this may seem silly, but since the suit was so heavily damaged, it of course, as stated previously, had to be changed. It didn't really matter to the Rangers, though. To be honest, they thought the old suit design was ugly.

At the moment, the Rangers were at the UN base underneath Tokyo, waiting for the lead designers and engineers to call them into a lab to decide on their next suit design. There was not a sense of nervousness, only annoyance. Not an annoyance that one would feel when dealing with a person who irritated you to no end, but one would feel during a fit of boredom. They had been waiting for what felt like an hour for their names to be called—even though it had really been about 15 minutes. It was also the second straight day they had to miss work because they were "sick".

The room was mostly bland, like the waiting room at a doctor's office. There's nothing aesthetically special in here. Is being a Power Ranger really supposed to be this dull? It was even worse than the individual therapy sessions the UN made them take yesterday. It was more annoying than deadly. They just didn't like doing it. Of course, the UN said they did it so the Rangers wouldn't suffer any emotional breakdowns while fighting. Oops, we're getting off topic. We're supposed to be talking about the new suits.

"_Ay dios mio_, why do we have to wait so long?" Maria asked out of the blue.

"Don't ask me why," Kevin replied. The conversation was dropped, and the Rangers went back to the silence of waiting for the new suits. How long was this supposed to take? All they said was that it was going to take five minute, and now it was twenty.

"Fuck this," Sean said to himself as he got up and walked over to the door leading to the lab. "Hey! What the hell's going on in there!?" He shouted.

"Yeah, what's taking so long?" Hitomi asked. Suddenly, the door to the lab opened, revealing their commanding officer, Col. Alan Greene. And he did not look pleased in the slightest.

"Will you _please _be more patient?" He said. He must have forgotten that the Rangers have _been _patient for 20 minutes.

"Um, we've been patient sir," Kevin replied. Col. Greene sighed and placed his face in his palm, shaking his head all the while.

"Look," he said. "We're kind of busy here. So if you could just relax and wait a little longer, that would be fine, okay?"

"You told us we would have to wait five minutes," said Maria. "I could have gone to the cafeteria and gotten a snack by now."

"Look, we'll have the suits ready soon, okay?" He said, just to get the Rangers to calm down. Now the Rangers were looking at each other, confused as hell. What did he just say?

"I thought you said we would be picking out the suits!" Kevin said.

"Change of plans," Col. Greene replied. "We could only get one suit online at the moment, so we went with that."

"You gotta be kidding me," said Sean. "Is that why you took our morphers?"

"Exactly," said Col. Greene. "Now please relax. And yes, you can go get a snack from the cafete—" He stopped when the Rangers all abandoned their seats and dashed to the cafeteria to get some grub. He shook his head as he went back in the lab. They must have been _really _hungry.

About 20 minutes later, Col. Greene opened the door again to see the Rangers all munching on some snacks. The Colonel shook his head at the Rangers before they noticed he was there. "Did you just get back?"

"Yeah," said Sean. "Why?"

"Just come in," he said with an annoyed tone of voice. The Rangers followed, taking their snacks with them, save for Daisuke Miyazawa. Once inside the lab, they stopped and Col. Greene addressed them. "Okay, so I'm guessing you're tired of waiting for us to call you."

"You bet your arse!" Kevin replied.

"Calm down," Col. Greene replied. "Alright, look. Because of the severe damage your suits received, we were forced to use new suits and new morphers."

"New morphers?" Sean asked with a confused look on his face. "Why?"

"Well, technically not new morphers," Col. Greene replied. "It's more like your morphers were simply modified."

"So we still have the same ones?" Maria asked.

"Technically," he replied. "And since we could only get one suit model online, you won't be able to choose which suit model you want." The Rangers groaned in response, as they had hoped they could decide on the suit. Col. Greene then walked over to a table where a suitcase was sitting. "Your morphers technically are the same, but the engineers and designers added a little something extra." He opened the case up and displayed the new morphers to the rangers. There wasn't too much of a difference, save for a slot on the left side of the morpher.

"What's with the slot?" Sean asked.

"Those are for your AcceleKeys," he replied. The Rangers looked at him with confused faces, as they didn't know what they were for. "In order to use your morphers, you have to insert the keys into—oh, grow up!" He said that because Sean, Kevin, Maria and Hitomi were snickering at what he said. Yes, he knew what they were thinking, and no, he was not pleased one bit. "You're in your twenties; this is no time for such crude humor."

"Sorry Colonel," said Sean. "It was just too funny."

"You're not Beavis and Butt-head," Col. Greene replied. "Be more mature about this. Anyway, you have to insert the key into the slot, like the ignition switch in your car. Also, the keys will be used in your zords and Grand Prix Cruiser." He gestured for another person, who brought a smaller case over to him. He opened that one up and displayed five objects with resembled Swiss army knives. There was a button on one end, and it got slightly narrower at the other end. "These are your Accelekeys," he said. The Rangers took the keys as well as their AcceleMorphers and put them on their left wrist.

"But I have a question," said Sean. "Isn't using a key a bad idea? What if we lose or forget it?"

"Then keep them with you at all times," Col. Greene replied. "We do have backups, but they're only to be used in an emergency."

Sean pressed the button on his one key and the key itself flipped out like a switchblade. "So that's how it works?" He asked.

"Correct," the Colonel replied. "Now you guys can—" In an instant, the Rangers cleared the room, no doubt leaving to get some proper lunch. "…Leave." The Colonel shook his head in response before talking with more engineers and designers.

[][][]

Commander Ragnar sipped his Human wine back in his office. The blond elf was disgusted. What blasphemy was this? How could the Humans make such foul-tasting liquid! He cursed the Suitroop who brought him this wine, which they claimed was the finest human wine they could get. He was going to dismantle those Suitroops for bringing him such a terrible substance. Of course, it could just be that his love of Elven wine made him biased towards this Human wine. It was a possibility.

But right now, his focus was broken when the door to his office burst open, revealing his blonde-haired general Elbeth. Recently, Elbeth had nearly killed Earth's strike force the 'Power Rangers' before they made their escape. The general bowed before the Commander before speaking.

"Commander," he said. "I am ready to go back Tokyo and attack the Power Rangers."

"Really?" Ragnar asked. "What is your plan?"

"The same as last time, Commander," he said. "I will lure them out."

"That will not always work Elbeth," said Ragnar. "But for now I shall approve your plan. Will you take another large monster?"

"No, I will not," he replied. "Instead, I will take a smaller monster to attack them. They will not stand a chance."

"This had better not fail," said Ragnar. "You are on a short leash, as the humans say. Your past failures have forced me to say this."

"I will not fail," Elbeth said. "I shall return victorious!" And with that, he disappeared, leaving Ragnar alone. But Ragnar was still skeptical about Elbeth's declaration he would win.

"You had better," he said menacingly.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

"Why did we have to change our morphers, too?" Hitomi asked as the Rangers got some lunch at a fast-food place.

"Maybe we should have stayed longer so we could have found out," said Kevin. "But I was too hungry to stay."

"I guess we're lazy bums then," said Sean. If you're wondering how Sean, Kevin and Maria ordered their food, unless it's too obvious, here's how: Hitomi ordered for them. Daisuke wouldn't even talk to Sean. Fine with Sean, though, after Daisuke's mutinous—in his eyes, anyway—words that he should be Red Ranger instead of Sean.

That got the American infuriated. So mad that he left to be alone—even though Hitomi followed him. Of course, they had a good conversation. For the record, Daisuke was still mad at Sean's leadership mistake in which the Rangers were nearly killed. Even more, the Rangers actually had a hard time _forgiving _Sean for his little lapse in leadership. In fact, it's about to be mentioned.

"Considering how your little lapse in judgment nearly got us killed," Maria said. Sean sighed in exasperation, as he was getting tired of them bothering him about what he did.

"Jeez, can you give it a rest?" Sean said in response, essentially preventing Maria from finishing her complaint. "Can I please go for an hour without getting reminded about that? Who do you think you are, Rich Boy?"

"Will you stop calling me 'Rich Boy'?" Daisuke shouted in response. "Can't you at least call me 'Miyazawa'?"

"No!" Sean replied. "You know I don't like you one bit! Why the hell would I give you the dignity of calling you by any name when you don't even call me by my name?"

"Can we go back to complaining about how Sean royally screwed up?" Kevin asked. "Even though I'd rather not?" To be fair, Kevin is getting tired of not getting much screen time. "In fact, I hate to say it, because even though Sean deserves to get yelled at for screwing up, maybe we should stop?"

"Oh, all right," said Maria. "But he's on a short leash!"

"Well, we should be focusing more on when the Elves will attack again," Kevin said. "We can't really afford to be fighting amongst ourselves."

"He's right," said Sean. "As old Abe Lincoln once said, 'a house divided against itself cannot stand'."

"If we fight amongst ourselves, we can't fight against the Elves," said Kevin. "I say Sean gets one more chance." Said Ranger slammed his forehead on the table in response. One incident and they're already turning against him!

But Kevin was only being harsh because he knew his friend could take it. If not, Kevin could always be Red Ranger. Even he didn't think Daisuke could handle the stress of being Red Ranger. Apparently the whole world hated him.

"You don't have to be so melodramatic Sean," said Maria.

"You know, I thought these things bonded with our DNA," said Sean. "So technically, I'm gonna be Red Ranger for a long time."

"They did?" Kevin asked. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, but we've got new suits," said Maria. "I'm not sure if our DNA is bonded with those suits; yet."

"Why do we even have to change suits?" Hitomi asked; even though the question has already been answered a few times before.

"Better yet, why do we need keys?" Sean asked. "Wouldn't that make things a little harder? Why not give us cell phones or something? _Power Rangers Turbo _had keys. Are they trying to rip it off?"

"Cell phones would be nice," said Hitomi. "I mean we could—" But the conversation ended when the Rangers heard a 'bang' sound that didn't seem too far away. "What was that?" Hitomi asked.

"Sounds like something's going on," said Kevin. "I say we go see what's going on."

"Good idea," said Sean. "Let's go!" With that, all five of them cleared the table to wherever the explosion came from. And to possibly show the Elves—if they were responsible—that they were still kicking.

"Don't destroy everything, Grond!" Elbeth said to the monster he was with. The monster looked like a bulky, humanoid werewolf/rabbit… thing. Yes, it was ugly, and yes, it smelled bad.

"Come on, Elbeth!" He yelled. "I wanna have some fun!"

"Then let the Suitroops have some fun, too," Elbeth said.

"Oh, okay then!" Grond said. "Suitroops, attack!" The Suitroops obeyed the command and attacked the bystanders. The bystanders in turn tried to run, but many were too slow and suffered a horrible fate. Some tried to fight back, but they were no good either. Soon, the street had several bodies lying in street. Some Suitroops attacked some cars, prompting the drivers to exit the vehicles pronto. It looked like nothing would stop them. But, as anyone would know, the heroes tend to be fashionably late.

And here they are now. A few minutes after the attack began, the Rangers showed up to find the chaos unfolding in front of them. Now was a good time to start fighting. "Alright guys, let's go!" Sean said.

"_Right!_" And with that, the Rangers charged the Suitroops unmorphed.

Kevin took on about five Suitroops. He spun around, reverse roundhouse kicking one before sweep-kicking another to the ground. He side kicked another Suitroop before punching one in the face. A tornado kick later and all of his opponents were down. Expect for one, but he took care of that one with a judo throw. A quick punch later and the robot was out of commission.

Sean roundhouse kicked a Suitroop in the head and then hook kicked another. He split leg kicked another two and then elbowed one that was trying to come up behind him. With an impressive spin move, he tornado kicked another pair. Then he punched another in the gut. Finally, he side kicked one, sending it into a larger group of Suitroops.

Hitomi flipped over a half-dozen Suitroops and then front kicked the one right in front of her. She then jumped in front of one and front kicked it in the chin. A Suitroop tried to swing its sword at her but she blocked it with an outer block and then side kicked the robot. With a swift move and a mighty _kiai_, she elbowed and then punched a Suitroop behind her before split kicking another pair.

Maria cross blocked a Suitroop and threw the 'trooper off of her and kicked it in the chest. She dodged another Suitroop punch and responded with a punch herself. With a grunt and a _kiai_she then punched and elbowed a Suitroop in front of and behind her. When two more Suitroops came in, she flipped to avoid them and then roundhouse kicked one and reverse roundhouse kicked the other.

Daisuke rolled under a couple Suitroop swords and then sweep kicked one near him. Once he got up, he blocked a Suitroop punch and then tornado kicked the same Suitroop with a loud yell. He charged another group and side kicked a Suitroop, knocking it into a larger group. Then a Suitroop tried to thrust its sword at his head, but he ducked and with a one-two punch, knocked the bot out.

"Alright wolf... rabbit... guy, you're next!" Sean shouted as the Rangers lined up in front of Grond. It was then that Elbeth turned around and noticed the Rangers in their civilian forms. He smiled in a venomous manner when he noticed the Rangers. The Rangers simply stood their ground, ready to fight.

"Well, now," he said, "If it isn't the Power Rangers. I thought I nearly killed you the last time we fought. You recover quickly!" The Rangers all looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. They had little clue that Elbeth knew their secret identities. "In case you're wondering, Ragnar showed me what you look like."

"Whatever the reason," said Sean. "There's no way we're gonna let you run all over us again, Elbeth! You and your wolf guy are going down!"

"You talk big!" Elbeth replied. "Let's see how you handle Grond!" He said as he pointed to the wolf guy next to him.

"Fair enough," said Sean. "I guess it's time we kick things up a notch!" He showed his modified AcceleMorpher and then took the AcceleKey out. The other Rangers followed his lead, despite the fact that Sean was still on trial. "Ready!"

"_READY!_ _GPX, Start It Up!_" The Rangers jammed the keys into the key slot on their morphers. A quick turn of the keys and there was a flash of red, blue, green, yellow and pink light before the Rangers appeared in their Ranger suits.

"Hey, this doesn't look too bad!" Sean said as he got a look at the new suits. Unlike the last suits, these had white torsos, giving them a sleeveless look, but with a colored collar. The gloves and boots were still the same color, white gauntlets and colored boots and they still had the wheels the end of the gloves and top of the boots. This time, there were two silver straps on the torso, like safety harnesses.

And there were broken lines like on a road going down the arms. The belt was still black and the Octane Blaster was still attached to it. The chest symbol was still the same, with the tire-and-number—the number in gold-combination. The helmets were also the same, looking like a combination of the _Operation Overdrive_and _Kousoku Sentai Turboranger_[1] helmets. Sean was still red (1), Kevin was blue (2), Daisuke was green (3), Maria yellow (4), and Hitomi pink (5). The girls also had little skirts.

"At least it's not like the last one," said Maria.

"I like the fact we don't have the Arsenal outfits," said Kevin.

"Where did those come from?" Elbeth asked, confused about the new suits.

"You broke our last ones," said Sean. "Now we got new ones, no thanks to you!"

"Well then," said Elbeth. "I suppose it's time to put those suits to the test. Grond, get them!" With that, he disappeared, most likely getting out of the way.

"My pleasure!" The wolf-creature said. The monster howled and charged the Rangers. The Rangers, meanwhile, cried out and got into fighting stances and charged Grond. The combatants met in the middle. Sean went first, trying to land a few punches on the wolf monster. Grond blocked a few of them, but Sean gave it another shot this time roundhouse kicking Grond. Then Kevin came into try and draw Grond off so Sean could handle the monster. Grond growled and swung its arm at the two. The two quickly ducked. That left Grond open, though. At that moment, Maria came in and kicked Grond in the back of the head.

"Take that!" She shouted. Grond responded, though, by swinging its large paw at her. But this was blocked by Kevin, who grabbed the Monster's arm. Of course, this caused him to be knocked back a few feet.

"Agh!" He grunted before running back to take on Grond. By now, Daisuke and Hitomi had gotten in the act, attacking Grond with their GP sabers. In what seemed to be a perfectly choreographed dance like something out of a Broadway play, swung their sabers at the monster, trying to keep it on its heels. It was then that Grond felt three blasts in his back.

"What the hell was that?" Grond said as he turned around. He noticed Sean, Kevin and Maria all pointing their fuel pump nozzle-shaped Octane Blasters.

"You want more?" Sean asked. Grond did not answer, instead charging the Rangers. "Too late! FIRE!" The three of them fired their pistols at the monster, sending sparks flying. But this seemed to make Grond angrier.

"You Power Pukes!" He shouted. "I'm gonna rough you up big!" The monster growled and charged the three Western Rangers. All of them dodged quickly, not wanting to deal with the monster's possibly deadly head. But instead, the monster crashed into a nearby car, denting the vehicle severely.

"Freeze, monster!" Daisuke shouted as he pointed his blaster at the monster. He was going to fire, but at that moment, a few civilians found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, close to Grond. Daisuke kept his aim at the monster, close to the civilians. But Sean didn't want him to fire and risk collateral damage.

"Green!" He shouted. "Hold your fire, now!"

"No!" Daisuke shouted, ignoring Sean's order and keeping his gun trained on Grond. "If we don't get him now, we won't have a chance to get him!" For some reason, the civilians would not leave the area, and apparently Grond had figured out that the civilians were behind him.

"Go ahead, fire, I dare ya!" He shouted.

"Hold your fire!" Sean shouted even louder. "That's an order!"

"NO!" Daisuke shouted as he pulled the trigger. At that moment, Hitomi grabbed his arm, pulling the gun away from Grond. The shot was still fired, but this time it struck a car. Daisuke was not pleased with his sister. "Hitomi, what were you—"

"There were people there!" She shouted. "You could have at least waited for them to leave! And when Sean gives you an order, you follow it!"

"Forget it!" Sean shouted as his GT Sword materialized. "Kevin, Maria and I will take care of this! Ready!"

"_Ready!_" They shouted. At that point, the blade of Sean's sword began to glow red and Kevin and Maria pointed their blasters at Grond. This time, however, the civilians had left, leaving them with a clear shot.

"Aim!" Kevin shouted. "FIRE!" The Irishman and the Venezuelan woman fired their shots at Grond, and then Sean's tires on his boots began to spin.

"GT STRIKE!" Sean shouted as he sped towards Grond. When he reached the wolf monster, he swung his sword like a baseball bat, sending sparks flying. Sean then stopped behind him as Grond fell to the ground before a massive explosion filled the area. However, Kevin, Sean and Maria were not yet ready to celebrate, and neither were Daisuke and Hitomi. The reason was because Grond was getting up. And he was not happy one bit.

"Damn you, Rangers!" He shouted. "I'll be back!" The Rangers, not wanting to let Grond get away, charged at him, but the wolf monster disappeared before they could reach him. The Rangers reacted in frustration at letting the monster get away.

"DAMMIT!" Kevin shouted. With no monster to fight, there was no need to stay morphed for now.

"_Power down!_ There was a multi-colored glow and the Rangers' suits disappeared, revealing their civilian identities. A good look at their faces showed some very disappointed and/or frustrated looks on their faces.

"Grah!" Kevin growled in frustration as he punched his palm. "We let him get away!"

"I guess we have ourselves to blame for this," said Sean. At least he was admitting his mistakes.

"And we would not have if only—" Daisuke's words were instantly cut off when Sean walked right up to him with the most pissed-off face you've ever seen and decked him right then and there, sending Daisuke to the pavement holding his left cheek. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF AMATERASU WAS THAT ABOUT!" He shouted.

"I ordered you not to fire!" Sean shouted. "And yet YOU WENT AND DISOBEYED MY FUCKING ORDER!"

"Is that what you are angry about!?" Daisuke shouted back, holding his cheek. He got up and advanced on Sean, but was held back by Hitomi. Sean himself was being held back by Maria and Kevin got in between the both of them.

"Hey, calm down!" Kevin shouted. "First off, Daisuke, when Sean gives you an order, you follow it! Second, Sean, don't hit him just because he disobeyed your order! This isn't hockey! Hell, you would've gotten 5-minute major if you were still with the Steel."

"He was pointing his blaster at civilians!" Sean shouted. "You do not shoot when there are civilians in the proximity of the line of fire, rich boy!"

"Had I shot him, we would have gotten him by now!" Daisuke shouted back as Hitomi tried to hold onto him.

"As if that would have made a difference," said Maria, trying to keep calm. "At any rate, we need to find out what our next move is." Hitomi and Maria continued to hold Sean and Daisuke back until the two calmed down and they let go of them. Sean wanted to deck Daisuke again, but he was trying to control his anger.

"So now what are we going to do?" Hitomi asked. "I mean, as long as we don't fight each other?"

"I think I might have a plan," said Sean. "But I'm not entirely sure it will work."

"A plan?" Daisuke said with a skeptical tone. "You have a plan?"

"A simple one, yes," Sean replied. "But it's a plan none the less." As Sean explained his plan, the Rangers gathered in a huddle to listen to it. But Elbeth, unbeknownst to them, was watching and listening to them from a good distance away. There was a menacing smile on his face, as if he was devising some plot.

"So, they're fighting with each other," he said to himself. "Maybe I can exploit this somehow." And with that, he disappeared, most likely to report back to Ragnar. His Commander would be pleased about the plan.

"So did you get that?" Sean said as he finished up his plan. Kevin, Maria and Hitomi nodded their heads, while Daisuke stayed silent.

"Will it work?" He asked.

"I hope so," Sean replied. "If not, we can always wing it. Okay, now let's recap. First off, we need to lure him to the docks. Then…"

At the UN base, Col. Greene ran his hand through what little hair he had. With the Rangers recently beginning to fight each other, he was getting more exasperated about them more and more. They had more important issues to worry about than fighting each other! Perhaps he should have found the ones who would be most willing to work together instead of the ones who were constantly butting heads with each other. Sure, it was mainly O'Callahan and Miyazawa, but since all five of them were fighting with each other on occasion, it still made no difference.

"Sir!" One soldier said.

"What is it?" Col. Greene asked, wondering if it had to do with the misbehaving Rangers.

"Sir, O'Callahan said that he has a plan." Greene's eyes perked, as he was now interested.

"Really?" He asked. "What kind of plan?" This sounded interesting. So what did O'Callahan have up his sleeve? It had better be interesting.

"Well, it's kind of controversial," the corporal said. "He sent a message to the Elf general saying that…"

"What's your next order Elbeth?" Grond asked. He and Elbeth were in an old warehouse near the Tokyo Bay waters. Elbeth had just intercepted a radio transmission saying that there was some special weapons being imported into Tokyo at about 3:00 local time. Obviously, this sounded interesting. If they could get a hold of these weapons, then they could wreak havoc upon the city. No doubt this was a juicy target. Commander Ragnar would be pleased with him, no doubt!

"Get to the port," he said. "And find those weapons!"

"Yes, general!" Grond said. The wolf monster left the warehouse to intercept those weapons. Elbeth smiled smugly. Whoever sent that transmission would be sorry they ever revealed such a secret.

The Port of Tokyo was busy today. One dock worker removed his hard hat and sat down to have a sip of water. With the hot temps and hard work, staying dehydrated was no doubt a priority. The man was in his early forties, and looked as though he had been working on the docks for a few years. He wiped his brow, and then took another sip of water. He sighed again, getting ready to get back to work.

It was then that he noticed a strange-looking shadow behind him. And it did not look good one bit. He slowly turned around, hoping his eyes were playing tricks on him. He was wrong. When he turned around, he found he was staring at a wolf-like creature. "Boo!" The wolf said. At this point, the man screamed and ran away.

Grond laughed at the man. "What foolish creatures!" He said as he walked towards the ship. The other men all noticed him as well and ran away. Grond laughed, knowing this was going to be easy. He then pulled out a device that resembled a GPS locator. "Now, where is that thing?" A hologram popped out of the screen, showing a red dot on the map. No doubt it was the location of his target weapons.

"Ah-ha! Just 100 Human yards away!" The wolf/rabbit-like monster walked towards the location, which was among a large number of other boxes. He searched longer, trying to find it. Then, he noticed a free-standing box, which the locator was pointing at. "Perfect!" He shouted. This was his target! He dropped the locator and walked over to the box, which was a Maersk box. "Well, now!" He said as he found it. "Let's see what's in here!" He opened the box and found—

"What!" There was nothing in there, but a red, beeping—"Grrrr, I've been tricked!"

"That's right!" Another voice shouted. Grond looked behind him and noticed the same five humans he had encountered earlier standing on top of some boxes. "I can't believe you fell for it!"

"You bastards!" He shouted. "I'm going to tear you limb from limb!"

"We'll see about that!" Sean replied as he displayed his AcceleMorpher. "Now it's time to kick your ass! Ready!"

"_Ready!_ _GPX! Start it up!_" The Rangers jammed their AcceleKeys into their morphers and a bright light enveloped them before they reappeared in their Ranger gear. It was then that they leapt off the boxes and attacked Grond. Sean went first, attacking with his GT Sword. Sean attacked in his normal aggressive style, trying to keep Grond on his heels. He gave Grond a reverse roundhouse kick before letting Kevin take care of him.

Kevin swung his GP Sword at the monster before side kicking the monster over to Daisuke. The Japanese Green Ranger took his _naginata_-like Mountain Staff and swung it at Grond, forcing the wolf monster into Maria's waiting hands—figuratively speaking, of course. Maria stabbed at Grond, trying to catch the monster off guard, thrusting her daggers at it all the while. But Grond got away from her but ended up dealing with Hitomi and her Am Bow. The Pink Ranger fired a close-range shot, which Grond just barely dodged.

"Is that the best you got?" The wolf taunted.

"No!" Sean shouted as he came in again, swinging his GT Sword. This time, he managed to land a blow on Grond, giving him a nasty backhand swing at the abdomen, sending sparks flying. Kevin came in next, using his GP Sword, also landing a blow on Grond. Now the Rangers had the advantage. Daisuke meanwhile, swung his Mountain Staff and also landed a blow on Grond. Maria came in next and thrust both of her daggers at Grond, also landing a pair of blows. It was then that Hitomi fired her Am Bow from behind. The arrow struck Grond, knocking him to the ground.

"GRRRR!" Grond growled deeply like any Wolf would. "You colored bastards!" He shouted. The Rangers gathered about 15 feet in front of him. "Is that all you got?"

"Colonel, can we combine our weapons?" Sean said as he contacted Col. Greene.

"_Sorry Red,_" Col. Greene replied. "_The engineers didn't think about that. But you do have a cannon you can use._"

"Oh really?" Sean asked. "What?"

"_The Nitro Cannon,_" he replied. "_We're sending it to you right now_!" Soon, the Rangers saw something teleport in front of them and then materialize into a cannon. For the record, the UN could teleport matter, just not organic matter. It's complicated. The cannon was large, big enough for all five Rangers to hold onto it.

"Alright, let's see how this works," said Sean. He got behind the cannon. Daisuke and Maria were on his left and Kevin and Hitomi were on his right. "Alright then, Nitro Cannon, ready!"

"_Ready!_" The cannon began to charge, and a red glow appeared in the barrel. "_Aim!_" A targeting computer appeared, one for Sean to lock on. Indeed he did, and got Grond in the cannon's crosshairs. Grond in return recoiled, but it didn't matter. He was dead meant, anyway. "_FIRE!_" At that moment, a large, ball of energy was fired at Grond. The wolf monster tried to run, but he was struck by the ball of light. In a shower of sparks, Grond fell to the ground, and exploded. The Rangers had won—but not yet.

"You think this is over?" Elbeth said as he watched from atop a column of boxes. "This has only just begun!" He threw a crystal ball-shaped object at the ground where Grond lay. It was then that there was another explosion. The Rangers recoiled before looking to see Grond grow big. _Really_big.

"Colonel!" Sean shouted. "I think it's Grand Prix Zord time!"

"We're sending them now," Col. Greene said. At that point, the Rangers could hear the sounds of massive engines in the distance. They ran over to the docks to see the Zords emerge from the water. Apparently, they were amphibious.

"Alright!" Sean said as he and the other Rangers jumped into the cockpits of their zords. "GT Racer, online!" Sean's zord was a large, red-colored GT race car.

"Touring Racer, ready to go!" Kevin shouted. His was a mostly blue-colored touring race car.

"Mountain Hauler, engage!" Daisuke shouted. His was a large, green-colored pick-up truck.

"Haz Runner, roll out!" Maria shouted as well. Haz Runner was a large, yellow-colored HazMat vehicle.

"Am Chaser, let's go!" Hitomi shouted. Hers was a mostly white-colored—save for some pink trimming—ambulance.

"Alright, AcceleKeys, ready!" Sean shouted. He and the other Rangers produced their AcceleKeys.

"_Ready!_" The Rangers then thrust their keys into the ignition and turned it on. The zords were ready to go.

"Alright, Grand Prix Megazord time!" Sean shouted. The zords then went to an island in the bay, one that was essentially uninhabited. It was there that the megazord was assembled.

Mountain Hauler joined with Touring Racer. The touring car split in two and rolled up to the rear wheels of the Mountain Hauler. A pair of panels adjusted, revealing elbows. At the same time, a pair of fists popped out of the back. The Touring Racer then joined with the Mountain Hualer, forming arms. Then the grill on the Mountain Hauler lifted up and the front of the truck split and a pair of extensions popped out. The Hauler then rolled up the rears of the Am Chaser and Haz Runner and joined with them.

The Haz Runner and Am Chaser formed legs. Then, the GT Racer rolled up the back of the Mountain Hauler and docked with it. The large lights on the top of the Mountain Hauler rolled back and folded down. Now the Megazord was ready. It was then that several rockets fire, propelling the megazord upright. The cabs of the Am Chaser and Haz Runner stayed put, forming feet. The Haz Runner formed the left leg and the Am Chaser the right. The rear compartment of the GT Racer folded back, revealing a head. The eyes resembled goggles, and the face mask was solid. No mouth piece. A pair of wheel-like panels on the side completed it. Finally, the robot was upright. The Megazord let out some steam, ready to fight.

"_Grand Prix Megazord, online!_" The Rangers shouted from the cockpit. They were in their Indy Car-style pods. The megazord then advanced on Grond.

"What's this?" Grond said in a booming deep voice. "Come on, let's go!"

"Bring it, ugly!" Sean shouted. Grond charged the megazord, which stood its ground. Grond crashed into the megazord like a defensive lineman crashing into an offensive lineman in an American football game. The megazord then threw Grond off and gave the wolf monster a punch right in the muzzle. Grond staggered back before charging back. This time, the megazord caught Grond and threw the monster into the bay. Grond got up and charged the megazord again, this time landing a blow on the megazord's head.

Inside the head, the Rangers were shaken up from the blow. Luckily, since they were wearing safety harnesses, they ended up okay. "That bastard!" Kevin shouted. "Let's give him a little something extra!"

"Good idea!" Said Sean. "Take this, you flea-infested freak!" The megazord punched Grond in the gut, making the monster double over in pain. Then the megazord elbowed Grond down and into the bay.

"You bastards!" Grond said as he got up. It wouldn't last, though.

"I think we have to finish this," Maria said. "We don't want to risk any damage to the city."

"Good idea," said Sean. "Grand Prix Megazord saber!" A sword appeared in front of the megazord, and the robot grabbed it. "Turbo jets!" Then, a series of jets on the soles of its feet lifted the megazord up and out of the water.

"_Grand Prix Megazord Strike! Go!_" At that, the megazord launched itself at Grond with the wolf monster trying to get out of the way. He could not and the megazord slashed at the wolf monster. "_Checkered Flag!_" The megazord stopped and posed in victory while Grond was consumed by a shower of sparks. The monster then fell to the ground and exploded. The Rangers had won. Inside the megazord cockpit, the Rangers all celebrated, hooting and hollering at their victory.

"NO!" Elbeth shouted as he watched Grond explode. "I'll be back, Rangers! Just you watch me!" With that, he disappeared in a column of light to report back to Commander Ragnar.

"Not bad," said Kevin as the Rangers got back to their townhouse, unmorphed. Unlike the last time, the Rangers had succeeded in beating their opponent, without having to come from behind in order to do it. It may seem small, but anything like that can give anyone confidence. "And Sean, you're off the hook… for now."

"OH!" Sean groaned a la Homer Simpson. He thought he was completely off the hook.

"Hey, I kind of liked that plan," said Maria. "We managed to fool the Elves. Maybe we should try that more often."

"As long as we don't have to react," said Sean. "It's possible most of our fights are going to be reactionary fights."

"Even still," said Hitomi. "We won this fight pretty well. So why aren't we celebrating more?"

"Because we don't want to get overconfident," said Kevin. "I think the reason we lost to Elbeth the first time was because we were overconfident, Sean especially."

"Oh, come on!" Sean said. "Can we get over that now?"

"We were nearly killed Sean," said Kevin. "But yes, we can let it go-unless you screw up again; but especially after you punched rich boy earlier, even though he may have deserved it. But that's still not the point!"

"I can't believe you're telling me how to behave," said Sean. "And maybe he should not have pointed that Octane blaster at those civvies!"

"Will you stop that?" Daisuke asked.

"Technically Sean's right," said Maria. "He gave you an order and you chose to disobey it. Worst yet, you threatened to shoot when there were civilians in the area. So both you and Sean are to blame for that little spat."

"And we need to watch out for any Elf manipulation," said Sean. "It's possible they may try to drive a wedge between us."

Back at Alfheim, Elbeth entered Commander Ragnar's office. His failure was on his mind this time, but so was his new plan to defeat the Rangers. If only Commander Ragnar would listen to him, though. The Commander was not seated at his office. Instead, he was gazing out at the city of Alfheim spread out in front of him. "I knew we should not underestimate them," he said, "But it seems as if you have fallen into that trap."

"You knew?" Elbeth asked with a nervous tone. He was afraid his Commander would not go easy on him. His Commander turned around and faced Elbeth again.

"I watched your battle," he said. "Your monster was defeated easily and fooled by a relatively simple plot. How can you face me again?"

"I have another plan," Elbeth replied. Ragnar shook his head in response.

"Normally, I am patient," Ragnar said. "It does not matter how long it takes for us to eliminate the humans. But your failures make me impatient with you. What plan do you have?"

"I observed the Rangers today," he said. "They seemed to be fighting amongst each other." Ragnar's face changed from one of disappointment to one of intrigue.

"Go on," he said.

"I plan to exploit this," Elbeth said. "I will drive the Rangers apart! And then, I will annihilate them!"

Ragnar sat down on his throne again. Elbeth's plan sounded interesting indeed. "I like this plan," Ragnar said. "Very well, then. I will see how your plan works. You are dismissed!"

"Thank you, Commander," Elbeth said as he saluted again and walked out the office. Ragnar watched though, still concerned about Elbeth's plan.

"You had better not fail me," Ragnar said. "Or I will have no more use for you."

End chapter


	9. Boogie-Woogie Internship Blues

Note: This next chapter is a brand-new chapter written specifically for the GPX Reboot and maybe the original Part 1.

Power Rangers GPX, episode 9: Boogie-Woogie Internship Blues

:-:-:-: We're the best chance for humanity, Pow-wer Rang-gers G-P-X, let's go! :-:-:-:

The Miyazawa Internship wasn't something that was made up to get the Rangers to Tokyo. In order to have a believable cover, they had to actually work the internship. Well, not Daisuke and Hitomi. Even though Hitomi had been taken out of school early, she was one of the Internship supervisors. She didn't need to have a degree. It was virtually guaranteed that she was going to have a big role with the company in the future.

Nepotism FTW!

Of course, that left the other three Rangers doing other work… separately. Kevin was in the Postgraduate internship, which meant he was separated from Sean and Maria.

They sat on opposite sides of their workstation at a computer typing and working away. Both were dressed in business clothes, which looking at them, it was obvious neither was particularly crazy about wearing. Even if they both looked good. Sean was wearing a white, buttoned shirt, dress pants and a Wisconsin Badgers tie. She was wearing a yellow, long-sleeved blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her elbow with a blue scarf and a knee-length, hip-hugging burgundy skirt. Yes, Sean could not keep his eyes off her.

Sean looked up from his PC and glanced over at Maria. She was still focused on her work and smacking her lips as if to make sure her lipstick was still applied. He rolled his eyes and minimized_ The Hockey News_ window he was reading.

He looked back at her again. She was undoubtedly hot. But really, did he even stand a chance with her? He chalked her up with those girls who obviously were not into him. And to think, hockey players are pretty popular with girls. Must only be the case for NCAA and NHL players. ACHA? Come on, he was being mocked by guys at Loyola for crying out loud!

He glanced over at her again and—wait, was she smiling at him!? He could see what she was doing. She was giving him an almost shit-eating smirk. Wait, what!?

He felt his face flush and he turned away. A quick glance saw her licking her finger and then making sizzling sounds. Is she playing with him!?

"Hello, O'Callahan?" he stiffened in his seat, and so did Maria. Daisuke, dressed in what could be described as a "Mad Men" suit, walked up to the both of them like the boss in "Office Space". "What is happening? I am going to need that you give me an update on how that press release is progressing."

"It's going great!" Sean replied. Waste of a journalism major!

"Perfect," said Daisuke, "If you could make it ten more pages, and get that done by two, that would be greeeeeeaaaat."

Sean seethed in silence. Sean may be the Red Ranger, but Daisuke was the boss. And he was going to milk it for all it was worth. Why did he have to choose _Office Space_ for movie night? Maria snickered, but Daisuke caught wind of this. "Something funny, Aparicio?"

"No, sir," she replied just as nervously as he was.

"Well then, if you two are done flirting, I would appreciate it if you both _get back to work_, mmmkay?" Daisuke turned, adjusted his jacket and left.

Maria looked over at Sean as he mouthed the words, _I hate his guts_. She shook her head and nodded while rolling her eyes.

Good thing this was a _paid _internship with free housing and kinda-free food.

Lunch time came and both immediately stood up from their workspace and made a break for the break room (no pun intended). Walking among the salarymen at the International headquarters of the Miyazawa Group, it was painfully obvious that they were the proverbial fish out of water. They were the only non-Japanese workers in the entire floor. There were other international workers, just not on this one.

It was basically the best way to feel like a minority.

"Jesus Christ!" Sean gasped as he rolled up his shirt sleeves and went straight for the fridge.

"_Ay dios mio_, don't tell me about it!" Maria said while she removed her hair band, shaking out her ponytail. Sean stared for a moment and looked back at his ham sandwich. Her yellow blouse shone in the light and Sean noticed that her legs looked great in black stockings—oh, dear. "So, what should we do after work?"

"I dunno," he said, removing the cap from his Pepsi bottle. "I was thinking about taking Kevin to a baseball game."

"I want to go," she said while grabbing her sandwich. "Which team? Giants or Swallows?"

"Swallows," said Sean, "Giants are too much like the Yankees for my taste."

"Hey, my favorite team is like the Yankees," said Maria.

"Really, who's your team?" asked Sean.

"_Los Leones de Caracas_," she replied, "Eighteen Venezuelan championships."

"Well excuuuussse _me _for following MLB and not the Venezuelan League!"

"Sorry," Maria laughed at his comical indignance, "How are the White Sox doing?

"They're actually playing pretty well," said Sean. "They'll play the Cubs in the first Crosstown Series and now my buddy Marty, who's back from Madison, is teasing me about it because he's going to the game on Sunday and told me the Cup is gonna be there. Lucky jagov. But then he's a Cubs fan—who the fuck is a Cubs fan from the South Side? Traitor."

"Like someone from Caracas supporting _Los Navegantes del Magallanes_," said Maria.

"… Yyyyeah, kinda like that," he replied.

"Sorry," she replied, taking another bite out of her sandwich.

Sean sighed again and took a bite out of his. "I'll bet Rich Boy's trying to get back at me."

"I think so too," Maria replied. "I don't know what I did to him. Maybe he thinks I'm complicit in this charade."

"And the work he's giving me," said Sean, "I think he revels in making me write bad PR statements, among other bullshit."

"And I hate having to come up with business plans," she lamented. "And doing the boss's dirty work. Why can't they do that shit themselves?"

"Even worse, Rich Boy got the memo that Bill Lumbergh's the _perfect_ role model for the way a boss acts," said Sean.

They both sighed, holding their sandwiches and drinks. Here they were; in another country, with an opportunity most college students would probably kill for, and they were already bitching about their jobs.

The realization hit them both and they snorted like little kids upon seeing something their parents didn't want them to see on TV. "Did you just—"

"Yes!" Maria laughed, interrupting Sean.

"Oh man, we are not cut out for the corporate world," Sean laughed. "Marketing internship." He scoffed.

"What are you two complaining about?" Both of them jumped as Kevin walked into the room, wearing a full suit and tie while shaking his head at them. "Gossiping employees won't last very long, you know."

"Sorry, Kev," Sean sighed again. _Corporate sell-out_, he thought. "How's it up there in corporate?"

"Brutal," Kevin sighed, "Mr. Miyazawa is a hard-arse, treating me like I'm a camel."

"At least he's complaining, too," said Maria.

"And unlike you two, I have to get back to work!" said Kevin.

"Then what the hell are you doing here!?" Sean asked.

"Making some tea," Kevin replied.

Sean rolled his eyes while Kevin made his tea. "He loves the stuff," he said to Maria.

"So what are you two doing?" asked Kevin.

"Bonding over baseball," said Sean.

Kevin glanced over at the two while they were talking again. He wondered what was going on between those two. Were they…

Nah!

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

Elbeth knew that Ragnar would be skeptical of his new strategy. But that is only because it is a new strategy and he had not yet used it in battle. But that did not matter. Elbeth knew he could get the job done with this separation strategy.

All he had to do was convince Ragnar.

Despite what you're assuming, Ragnar had yet to approve Elbeth's plan. Yes, Ragnar said that he will see if it works, but then he changed his mind and wanted Elbeth to go into more detail. There were some issues that Ragnar had found and wanted to discuss with Elbeth. He wanted the detailsSo Elbeth waited outside the Commander's office, waiting to be let in. _Knock! Knock! Knock!_

"Who is it?" Ragnar asked.

"It is I, Elbeth," he said.

"Enter!"

Elbeth opened the door and stepped inside, saluting Ragnar.

"At ease," said Ragnar. He sighed and looked at Elbeth for a moment, deep in thought. He opened his mouth and then closed it again. "Did you honestly think about this plan?" he finally asked.

"I have not yet put into action," said Elbeth, "But if I did, then I am certain it would succeed."

"Intelligence has discovered a problem," said Ragnar, "We discovered from their files that the Green Ranger is the Red, Blue and Yellow Rangers' supervisor in their internship. If you intend to take advantage of the Green Ranger's anger at the Red Ranger, then you must take into consideration the fact that the Green Ranger can take it out by merely making the Red Ranger's life miserable!"

"I suspect otherwise," said Elbeth.

"Is that so?" asked Ragnar.

"The Pink Ranger is also their supervisor, despite being younger than them," said Elbeth.

"Nepotism," Ragnar groaned.

"How did you know?" asked Elbeth.

"It was an inspired guess," said Ragnar. "Prove to me you know what you are doing!"

"The way those two fought when I was watching them means that this cannot be remedied with the Green Ranger being a horrible supervisor," said Elbeth, "This runs deep."

"Are you going to drive a wedge with the Red Ranger?" asked Ragnar.

"If I must," Elbeth replied.

"Well then," said Ragnar, "It appears you have thought this out. Very well, then. Take a monster and attack in the evening. I do not want the Green Ranger to end his fun. However, if your plan fails, then you will have failed not just in my eyes, but in the eyes of God."

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX :-:-:-:

The end of the day could not come sooner. As soon as it was 5 in the afternoon, Sean and Maria stopped what they were doing (after finishing their work) and got the hell out of there. The longer they had to deal with Miyazawa Lumbergh, the worse it would get. And they had the whole damn summer to deal with him!

Sean slung his backpack over his shoulders and Maria slung her purse over hers. They both nodded and began to rush out of the office without even so much as a word. It was the usual procedure for them, and management knew it. They already logged their hours, after all.

But right as they were about to leave, Maria caught something out of the corner of her eye. She quickly reached and grabbed a salaryman's hand that was aiming for a particularly bad place. She glared at the man, in such a way that if looks did indeed kill, she would have slaughtered the entire workstation he was at. "If you so much as touch me," she said, "I'll cut your fucking balls off."

"Y-yes!" the salaryman replied. Sean glanced over at a pair of Office Ladies who were really in to Maria's chastising. So were a couple of other salarymen.

"Honestly, the nerve of the guy!" said Sean. "Don't you have any shame, sir?"

"What's going on here?" Another voice asked. Hitomi walked into the office and saw what was going on. "What did he do?"

"This _puto _was about to touch me!" Maria replied. "I will not be treated like a fucking sex toy!"

"Honestly, what's wrong with people these days?" asked Sean.

Hitomi walked up to the man and promptly smacked him on the cheek. She said something very firmly in Japanese, causing the man to rise and bow in shame. She then pointed at the other workers.

"_Gomen nasai, minna_," he said.

"Should I accept his apology?" asked Maria.

"Rip his belt off," said Sean.

"That will not be necessary," said Hitomi, "I have already fired him. We do not tolerate sexual harassment in this workplace!"

"She's a better boss than Rich Boy," Sean laughed.

"I want to sue the bastard," Maria fumed.

"Which one? This idiot or Rich Boy?" asked Sean. Maria pointed at the idiot who touched her and Sean nodded.

"Also, please refrain from yelling and insulting management at work," said Hitomi, "Or else you would be fired, too."

"Oops," said Maria. She hastily walked over to Sean and grabbed his elbow, pulling him towards the door.

The two bowed and said, "_Gomen nasai, minna_," before leaving.

Maria sighed against the wall of the elevator while Sean leaned against another one. "You gonna file a report?" he asked.

"Absolutely," she replied.

"Good," he replied. He stood up from the wall he was leaning against and leaned next to her. He started laughing, which kind of ticked her off.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Earlier," he replied.

"Sexual harassment is no laughing matter," she replied.

"Not that part," he replied, "The part where you threatened to rip his balls off."

"Are you saying I overreacted?

He made a "little bit" gesture with his finger barely touching his thumb. "Of course, he definitely deserved the slap and to get canned."

"Agreed," she replied. "If I have to threaten every male employee in there, I'll do it."

"Nah, I think they learned their lesson," said Sean, "And I'll bet Hitomi will make 'em learn whether they want to or not."

"Good," said Maria, "I like her."

"Me too," he replied, "I kinda wish she was my sister."

"You _have _a sister."

"Bridge is older than me and _married_," he replied, "I meant like a little sister."

"You have a younger brother."

"My little brother is _ten _and a _bastard_," he replied. "And meanwhile, I may have been the victim of racism."

"What do you mean?"

"Some idiot told me to go back to my ranch," he said, "I've never been on a ranch in my fucking life! Well, since I'm a 'Murican, then goldurnit, Ah must be a rootin', tootin' cowboy from Texas! YEE-HA! Ugh, I hate being an outsider."

"And I'm a good-looking South American woman, so I _must_ be easy," she said. They both sighed. "Good thing most of the people in this country are genuinely decent people."

"Yeah, can't say I don't feel welcomed," he said. "Wanna get some drinks or food?"

"Drinks _and _food."

"Perfect. Where do you want to go?"

"Godai-san's. He's a genuinely nice guy."

"His place is around here, isn't it?"

"I think it is."

"Then Godai-san's it is." He noticed the floor display and said, "Wait, we're supposed to be going down, why are we going up?"

The elevator stopped. It dinged and the doors opened. Kevin was standing right there. "Are you leaving already?" he asked.

"Goin' to Godai-san's," said Sean.

"Then I'm coming with you," Kevin said as he walked in. He stood off to the side, which sort of confused the other two. "Oh, don't mind me, I don't want to interrupt you two. But how was your day?"

"_Work sucks_," they said in unison, prompting them to look at each other and shrug.

"Can't wait till this internship is over," said Sean.

"Me neither," said Maria.

Minutes later they stepped out of the elevator. A door man bowed to them, which they returned.

It was early evening in Tokyo. The neon signs were starting to light up down the street, but were not in view since this was in Shinjuku, and not in sight of the shops and street vendors. But a wafting smell of food was certainly in the air. This was one of the moments where the three could forget the flaws and problems of their hosts and remind themselves that this is indeed a fantastic country to visit.

Now that he was out of the office, Sean reached into his backpack and put his Sox hat on, along with a pair of sunglasses. "Let's get moving," he said.

"Wait just a minute!"

He groaned and the three turned around to see Daisuke and Hitomi coming out of the office building. "Where do you think you three are going?" he asked.

"Godai-san's!" said Sean. "We're hungry!"

"Should you not be in work right now?" he asked.

"We just finished it!" Maria replied.

"Then you did a poor job!" Daisuke replied, "You should be staying after hours!"

"Bullshit!" Sean replied, "We had a shit ton of work that we just barely managed to finish by 5, and you want us to stay!? Fuck off!"

"What are you doing!?" Daisuke growled, "Insulting your supervisor could get you fired—"

"If we were in work," Sean replied, "Now that we're out, you're not the boss of me, I'm the boss of _you_!" He cackled, which made Daisuke growl again. "Besides, our contract says that staying after 5 is optional, and we're exercising that option!"

"If you're going to stand there fuming like that, we're not going to take you to Godai-san's," said Maria.

"You want to come with?" asked Sean.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

"Daisuke-san, why are you so unhappy?" asked Godai-san.

"Because of those three fools," Daisuke said while pointing at Sean, Maria and Kevin having some drinks and food—chicken teriyaki for Sean, shrimp tempura for Kevin and some salmon teriyaki for Maria—while laughing at some joke Kevin made.

"Will you please relax?" asked Godai-san. "What do you not like about them?"

"The way they act, they are disrespectful, they are ignorant of our ways—"

"They are new to this country," said Godai-san, "They don't even speak Japanese, and according to you, they only had a short time to prepare. They are not disrespectful, they are just new."

"But still, they are so—"

"Different? Is that wrong?" Godai-san interrupted again, "From what I have seen, they're trying. You can't expect someone to become an expert a month into their stay."

"Godai-san, Daisuke's just worried about them," said Hitomi, "But I like them!"

"I'm glad you do, Hitomi," he chuckled, giving her his warm smile.

"I suppose I am," said Daisuke, "But there is another problem. They seem to be reveling in their underclass pride."

"Please don't say that anymore," said Godai-san. Daisuke awkwardly looked at Godai-san and sighed. "Oi, Sean!" Godai-san called out.

"Yeah?"

"You play hockey, yes? What was your favorite goal?"

Sean eagerly laughed and clapped his hands. Oh, he must've had something good. "Favorite goal? Let's see here. USHL Western Conference Final, last game of the series against the Green Bay Gamblers. We were in OT. They had this guy named Ritchie Metoxen, they called him the 'Oneida Rocket'. He's Native American, Oneida, and he's faster than I am.

"He has the puck and he's sprinting down the ice and it looks like he's gonna score. Next thing I know, he loses the puck and I'm right there on the left wing. I take the puck and pass it around with my teammates. We get to the other end of the ice, my right winger passes it to me. I weave through the defense, put a backhander on net, BOOM! Game over, we're going to the Clark Cup Final, and the crowd explodes—"

_KABOOM!_

The explosion came from outside, but the shockwave still rattled the interior of Godai-san's restaurant. Godai-san got up and started instructing people to leave calmly.

That was the Rangers' cue.

They calmly got up from their seats and Sean took out some yen notes to stuff them in Godai-san's hands. "Just to be safe," he said before walking out of the restaurant.

The quintet ducked behind the restaurant and rolled up their sleeves for their morphers. "Ready!?" Sean asked.

"_READY!_"

"_GPX, START IT UP!_"

A bright light erupted from the alleyway, followed by all five of the Rangers. They ran into the middle of the street to confront the Suitroops. The Suitroops, being an unstoppable object, didn't stop and met the unmovable objects in the Power Rangers. Naturally, they collided.

Sean threw a hard punch that smashed the faceplate of the first Suitroop. He grabbed the next Suitroop, flipped it on its back and kicked a Suitroop onto the other one. He kneed another incoming Suitroop, followed by a reverse roundhouse kick that knocked a pair of heads off. He blocked the punch of another Suitroop. He countered with a kick to the Suitroop's head, which knocked it clear off. He stuck both his arms out to clothesline a bunch of Suitroops in front of him.

Kevin bent over and launched himself at the first Suitroop, tackling it hard to the ground. He quickly got back up and blocked the strike of a Suitroop Nasty Stick. He pulled the Suitroop in and kneed it in the gut. When he remembered that wouldn't matter, he elbowed the Suitroop's head off. He dodged a Suitroop punch. He countered with a kick to its chest, which threw it back into a crowd of Suitroops. He jumped over a Suitroop and landed among the Suitroops he'd just attacked.

Daisuke knocked a Suitroop away, dodged another one and punched that Suitroop. He elbowed a Suitroop in the head, and kicked it to finish it off. He stepped out of the way of a Suitroop and kicked it in the back hard enough to smash it to the pavement. He bristled when a Suitroop grabbed him from behind, but he threw the Suitroop forward to get rid of it. He swung around and punched a Suitroop in the helmet, which also smashed the faceplate in.

Maria ran right into the fray. She punched a Suitroop in the chest, picked it up and flipped it onto its back. She elbowed another Suitroop and punched it. She bent down while a Suitroop rushed her. He stood up and flipped it onto its back. She threw a punch that a Suitroop blocked. But she kicked the Suitroop for good measure. She grabbed the Suitroop and slammed it to the ground. She got on her hands and twirled to kick the Suitroops like a top.

Hitomi ran to avoid the Suitroops. But she grabbed onto a lamp post and began swinging from it. She let go to kick the Suitroops hard enough to break them into several pieces. She got up and kicked one of them. It grabbed her leg, but she pulled it away and punched the Suitroop away. She flipped out of the way and when she stopped, she ran back, jumped and kicked a Suitroop hard in the chest which bowled several Suitroops over. She threw an upper cut on one of the Suitroops.

The monster appeared shortly after. It was a large, muscular deer (Boss Subtitles refer to it as Eikþyrnir, but we'll refer to it as eki-eki-patang ZOO PANG!). "That is one big deer," said Sean, "Can we pronounce its name?" No, Sean can't, that's why we're calling it Eki-eki.

Eki-eki stomped the ground and lowered its head. He charged the Rangers, but they all got out of the way. It stopped under the lights of one of the neon signs and turned on its feet pretty quickly. It charged the Rangers again. This time they didn't have enough time and it collided with Daisuke. "Why, how rude!" Eki-eki said as he ground Daisuke into the pavement. "Red didn't even bother to help you!"

Hitomi, however, did. She ran up and kneed the monster in the gut. Kevin tackled the monster hard. Sean ran up and kicked the monster in the snout as it was getting up. He threw another kick at the monster, but it caught his leg and ripped it out from under him. "Why did you not announce yourselves?" he asked.

"I thought we already did!" Sean replied, "What, are we supposed to remind you who we are while we stand around with a big target on our chest, begging to be attacked?"

"… Good point." Eki-eki threw Sean off, only to be caught by Maria.

Daisuke tried to sneak up on Eki-eki, but the deer monster blocked his punch and kicked him in the gut. He shoved Daisuke to the ground again. "Honestly, I'm just asking; why is the Red Ranger not trying to save you right now?"

The Red Ranger didn't need to save him. That job fell to Maria. She rushed in and delivered a hard side kick to Eki-eki's head.

Sean was right behind, putting Eki-eki into a headlock from behind. He pulled the stag monster off of Daisuke and slammed it to the ground. Eki-eki shoved Sean off of him and took a big swing at him. Kevin ducked underneath his arm and punched Eki-eki in the gut.

While Eki-eki was doubled over, Hitomi snuck up and kicked him in the back of the head. He didn't take too kindly to that, though. He lowered his head and rammed his antlers into her. Maria grabbed the stag monster's antlers and yanked him towards her, where she kneed him in the snout. Sean followed soon, kicking the monster in the snout.

Eki-eki threw a punch that Sean barely dodged. But Kevin ran up and countered with his own. Daisuke joined the fray, ducking under the monster and trying to literally sweep the monster off its feet. It wasn't a success unfortunately for him, but he managed to get out of the way when Eki-eki lunged for him.

Eki-eki lunged at Daisuke, grabbing his collar and throwing him back into the pavement. Daisuke coughed as he felt what must have been his lungs giving out a bit. Next thing he knew, Eki-eki was tackled by Kevin. He tried to grapple Eki-eki to the ground, but Eki-eki wasn't going anywhere.

However, Sean and Maria rushed in, tackling the monster hard. Sean punched Eki-eki in one-two-three, rapid-fire succession and kicked the stag monster over to Maria and she kicked Eki-eki in the jaw. As if the frustration of earlier was getting to her, she began to pummel the monster so hard that Sean thought she was going to draw blood.

At which point he picked Eki-eki up and threw a reverse roundhouse kick… that Eki-eki caught. Eki-eki flipped Sean on his back and raised his leg to stomp on Sean. Maria tackled Eki-eki hard. She gappled with Eki-eki, but he stood up and tossed her across the street. Sean got up. His boot wheels spun and he ran to catch her. Of course, her momentum and weight knocked him down.

"Wow, _muchas gracias_," she said.

"_De nada_," he replied.

Daisuke held onto Eki-eki as best he could. But even he could not stop Eki-eki from taking a big swipe at Hitomi. Hitomi caught Eki-eki's hand, and she held on for dear life. That was when Maria jumped into the fray, kicking Eki-eki hard and running over to Hitomi to see if she was alright. Sean threw a roundhouse kick at Eki-eki. But missed.

Hitomi and Maria threw their own kicks at Eki-eki, which knocked him down. The two fist-bumped and punched Eki-eki. "NICE!" said Sean.

Eki-eki angrily stumbled around while the Rangers regrouped. "I'll get you for this!" he said. Eki-eki stomped the ground and charged the Rangers. Sean and Kevin stepped in the way and grabbed Eki-eki's antlers to stop him in his tracks. Maria and Hitomi ran to each side and punched Eki-eki on both sides of the head.

"GRAH! DON'T DO THAT!" Eki-eki shouted. But Daisuke punched the stag monster in the gut before jumping away. Sean rushed in, kicking Eki-eki in the head. This made Daisuke angrily push Sean out of the way, much to the latter's confusion.

"What the hell, man!?"

Eki-eki smiled evilly. Oh yes, he knew what was going on.

But Sean didn't take too kindly to this and he punched the stag monster under the chin. Eki-eki responded by shoving both of them out of the way. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" he shouted.

"NITRO CANNON!" Sean shouted into his communicator. The Nitro Cannon materialized and the Rangers pointed it at Eki-eki. "READY!"

"AIM!" Maria shouted.

Eki-eki decided he was going out in a blaze of glory. He charged the Rangers, but Sean shouted "FIRE!"

He pulled the trigger. The red energy ball struck Eki-eki, making him scream in agony. He fell to the ground and exploded. The Rangers waited for a moment.

"Uh, isn't this the part of the episode where he grows ten stories?" asked Sean. He paused and waited…

Nothing.

"Okaaayyy," said Maria, "That was strange."

"What, the lack of growing or his reaction?" asked Kevin.

"Both," said Maria.

The sound of sirens made them run from the scene.

They emerged from the alley, adjusting their work clothes and noticing the clean-up efforts. Sean almost got scared when Godai-san ran up to him.

"You would not believe what just happened!" he said, "The Power Rangers just showed up and fought that monster!"

"They did?" Sean asked, barely even trying to sound surprised.

"It was nothing like those _Sentai _shows I watched as a boy," said Godai-san, "They didn't even announce themselves and they were gone before the police arrived."

"Among other things," Kevin muttered. "Do we still have to pay the check?"

"No, you're fine," said Godai-san, "Sean already paid."

"Thanks!" said Sean. "Come on, let's go, I need to get out of these clothes."

"Sean, aren't you forgetting something?" asked Kevin.

"Oh! Right!" Sean and the others turned and bowed to Godai-san.

"_Arigatou gozamasu_!" they all said. Godai-san bowed and let them leave… until they realized they left their stuff in his restaurant.

But Elbeth watched them from above. He smiled malevolently as he recognized that his plan was already starting to work.

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX :-:-:-:

End chapter

Okay, so how was that?

First, a couple of explanations: This is the first of what I hope to be a few chapters expanding on the Rangers' time in Tokyo. I consider this chapter to be semi-canonical—the reason being that they weren't facing Elves in the regular canon, but the Zordonians. However, because of the need for a good cover story, the Miyazawa internship came up as a good reason for them to come to Japan. Hence why they're working for them, to make it a genuine cover story.

Also, because Sean and Maria end up as a couple in the regular canon, I've sort of wondered how they'd become one, and thanks to this, there's a good reason: They bonded over baseball and bitched about work! Also, the scene with Sean and Maria in the break room was inspired by a shot from the _Cowboy Bebop _episode "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui" where Spike and Faye are having cigarettes and coffee against the evening sky. It was also the inspiration for the name of this episode.

But, whatever. Drop me a review!


	10. Sound Brawl

Note: This next chapter is a brand-new chapter written specifically for the GPX Reboot and maybe the original Part 1.

Power Rangers GPX, episode 10: Sound Brawl

:-:-:-: We're the best chance for humanity, Pow-wer Rang-gers G-P-X, let's go! :-:-:-:

None of them knew that Sean liked The Offspring. But there he was, singing "Why Don't You Get a Job" and dancing around like Mick Jagger at the company karaoke party. It just took one Asahi beer for him to loosen up and step up to the mic. Of course, he was off-key, but that didn't take away from the fact that he was having a good time.

Of course the middle finger directed at Daisuke (when he wasn't looking) when singing the title gave away the reason for this event. Sure, Sean may be off-key, but the message was not lost on Kevin and Maria (even if the song is about gold diggers of both sexes).

But then again, given the explicit and blatant nepotism mentioned in the previous episode…

"I suspect he is singing about me," Daisuke said while taking a sip of sake.

"_Nepo-tiz, Nepo-tizm, Nepo-tiii-iiism! Naaa, na that's how you got your job!_" Sean sang.

"That suspicion has been confirmed," said Daisuke. He could not fire him, though. The Ranger contract prevents that from happening outside of work. And because this is outside of work, as evidenced by the White Sox jersey Sean was wearing.

"I think it's funny," said Hitomi.

"_Nepo-tiz, Nepo-tizm, Nepo-tiii-iiism! Naaa, na that's how you got your job!_"

"I think I like this song," said Kevin. Maria, clad in a Brazil soccer jersey, chuckled and bobbed her head to the Caribbean beat.

"I like how he can get away with it," said Maria.

"_Gooot it from your faaamily, I'll aaalllways say! Naaa, na, that's how you got your job!_" Sean finished up. "Thank you, thankyaverymuch!" he said when he finished the song and jumped off the stage.

"I can write songs, do you want a full version of that?" asked Kevin.

"Gladly!" said Sean.

A co-worker walked up to Sean and patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "_Arigatou_," before walking off. Sean shrugged it off. But Kevin had an idea.

"At least we can get away with biting the hand tonight," he said. He checked his iPhone and said, "Let's get out of here, I don't want to sing again."

"And I do!" Maria shouted, pushing him out of the way. She ran up to the karaoke machine and began looking for a song. "No, no, no, NO, no—ah! Shakira! _Me gusta_!"

"Oh, I HATE Shakira!" Sean muttered. "Why the hell did they have to use her song for the World Cup, anyway?"

"Shut up," said Kevin.

"O'Donneru-san!" a co-worker said in heavily-accented, but understandable and grammatically-correct English, "Can you sing?"

"No, but I play the flute," Kevin replied. "Can you?"

"No," he replied, "That is why I am not up there."

"I don't blame you," Kevin replied.

Maria though, she looked like she was having a good time. Her singing ability might simply be considered "average", if anything. Still, Sean couldn't look away from her. Until she winked at him, that is. _Then _he looked away at a Yakult Swallows game that was on one of the TVs. Kevin barely noticed what had happened. He was too busy talking with some co-workers. "Thanks a lot," Sean muttered while watching the game.

When Maria was done, she jumped off the stage. Hitomi ran up to her and raised her hand. Maria high-fived the rich girl enthusiastically. "I still got it!" she said, licking her finger and touching her hip while making a sizzling sound.

"You're better than I am," said Hitomi.

"Oh, _chica_, don't say that! I'm sure if you try, you might sound better than you think."

"_YOSHI_!" Hitomi said, making a bicep-polishing gesture that made Maria a little uncomfortable, "I'm going to do it!" Without even saying anything to Maria, she ran past her and up onto the stage. Maria shrugged and went back to the bar to sit with Sean and Kevin.

"I think I like her a little more," she said. "I wish she was my sister."

"I already said that," said Sean.

"How are the Swallows doing?" asked Maria.

"Down 2-1 in the bottom of the 7th," said Sean, "And their pitcher needs get off the fucking mound. It's amazing he's been able to keep it this close."

"_Ay dios mio, _that was a horrible throw," Maria said after the pitcher threw _juuuuuuust _a bit outside. "Get him out!"

"He throws worse than a soccer player," said Sean.

Maria snorted, as did Kevin. "What?" Sean asked.

"Is that what they're saying now?" asked Kevin.

"What? You can't say 'you throw like a girl' or 'you can't throw like a wuss' because the former is bullshit and the latter is slightly homophobic," said Sean, "Besides, have you _seen _soccer players try to throw?"

"That's the least favorite part of moving to Brazil for me," said Maria, "No baseball _at all_."

"And, when you go to Sox games like I do, you hear far more creative taunts, especially better than at that piss stain in Wrigleyville."

Again, Maria snickered while Kevin shook his head. "Piss stain? That's a baseball shrine in your country!" said Maria, "That dump in Valencia? That's a piss stain!"

"That piss stain in Wrigleyville actually smells of piss!" said Sean.

"Fluminense**'s **stadium also smells of piss!" Maria shouted.

Sean paused and made a confused face before saying, "… Flamengo and Fluminense play in the same stadium."

Maria paused. Kevin could barely hold the snickering in. "It smells of piss when Fluminense plays there!" Maria snapped.

"Maria, you were supposed to be listening to my song!" Hitomi moaned over the loudspeaker. Sean, Kevin and Maria looked back at the stage to see Hitomi fuming.

"Oops," said Maria, "I'm so sorry, _chica_! I'll be right there!" She left the bar to go up on stage and sing a duet with Hitomi.

"What was that?" asked Kevin, "Were you two trying to one-up each other?"

"I have no idea," said Sean.

"I'll tell you what, that was the strangest sexual tension I have ever seen," said Kevin.

"It was not!" Sean replied. Kevin just laughed and went back to his drink.

"I was kidding," he said. _Not. _"By the way, how did you know those two teams play in the same stadium?"

"Wikipedia."

Kevin scoffed and rubbed his face while Sean turned his attention back to the baseball game on the screen. He felt Kevin's hand tap him on the shoulder and he looked behind to watch Maria and Hitomi singing a Shakira song. "Why couldn't they use the K'Naan song for the World Cup?" Sean asked no one in particular.

"OI! O'CALLAHAN!" Maria shouted, "_Te gusta_?"

"_No me gusta Shakira_!" Sean replied.

"_Tu hablas __español_?" she asked. He held up his fingers like he was pinching the air, prompting her to laugh. "Not much, huh?"

"I'm a little rusty," he replied.

"You need to learn," said Maria.

"Not here," said Daisuke. Sean turned around whilst chugging his beer and giving him a suspicious look. "We have to leave, by the way."

"Oh come on, I wanted to watch the soccer game!" Sean whined.

"The games are too early in the morning for you to watch," said Daisuke, "And you have work tomorrow."

"You're no fun," Sean moaned. He felt Daisuke tug on his collar, which made him grab Daisuke's hand. "Don't fucking touch me like that, or I'll rip that hand off, Rich Boy."

"Then how about this? Can we please leave?" asked Daisuke.

"Not until I'm done," Sean replied. To do that, he chugged the rest of his beer. He stumbled when he got out of the chair, almost hitting his head on the floor. But those Ranger instincts kicked in to prevent him from doing so. "I'm good," he said with a burp.

The Rangers left the party early and got a ride back to their townhouse.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

Sean and Maria had come to work the next day with minor hangovers. As a result, Daisuke gave them more work than should have been allowed.

Sean groaned while downing another ibuprofen tablet at around 12 noon and working on a blog about some shitty product the company was selling in Scotland. He'd never been to Scotland before, and even he knew there was a big difference between that and Ireland. This sucks!

Across from him, however, Maria looked like she had a bigger headache than he did. She could barely keep her eyes on the computer screen and kept looking down while sighing. "You okay?" he asked, his (admittedly) youthfully handsome face showing signs of concern.

"No," she said, "And I didn't even have that much to drink last night."

Sean reached into his backpack and pulled out his ibuprofen bottle. "Here, take one," he said.

"_Gracias_," she said as she took a pill.

"_De nada_."

"I hope Kevin doesn't have it as bad as we do," said Sean.

In fact, Kevin did not have it as bad as those two, but that's because he did not have as much to drink last night as Sean and Maria. The work, on the other hand, was giving him a headache. Mr. Miyazawa, the siblings' uncle—their father was in Kyoto—had a lot of phone calls he needed him to make and writing some e-mails, too.

He needed some tea and badly.

And with Daisuke lurking behind him, he felt even more pressure. Some tea would be nice right about now!

Daisuke leaned into the e-mail Kevin was drafting with a scowl. "What is that?" he asked.

"An e-mail," said Kevin.

"That does not look like my uncle's writing style," said Daisuke.

"Your uncle has thanked me," said Kevin, "I know my way with words."

"Daisuke!" His uncle walked out of his office. His uncle looked every bit the respectable businessman he is, with bits of gray hair that made it look like salt and pepper. "I happen to like Kevin's work. And I would appreciate it if you not harass him."

"When did I become the villain?" Daisuke asked himself as he walked away.

"And that e-mail is…"

"For the Middle East branch that you asked me to write," said Kevin.

"Oh yes, that one," said Daisuke's uncle. "Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, Mr. Miyazawa!" Kevin replied.

"Hitomi?" Mr. Miayazawa turned to Hitomi and handed her a sheet of paper, "Could you take this down to Mr. O'Callahan and Ms. Aparicio?"

"What is it?" asked Hitomi.

"An assignment," said Mr. Miayzawa.

"Right away, Uncle," she replied. "Come along, O'Donnell." Kevin nodded and followed her.

They arrived at the office to find the workers looking at something that happened to be where Sean and Maria was sitting. And Sean had been unleashing a tirade at somebody. He was going on about how punk was not a fashion statement, but a state of mind and, "Oops."

"Why were you swearing?" asked Hitomi.

"Sorry, boss," he said.

"I'll let it slide," she said. "We have an assignment for you."

"What do you need us to do?" asked Maria.

"We need some blogs around our new products in the Middle East and Europe," said Hitomi, "I hope you two can whip something up."

"Will do," said Sean. _Fuck you, Rich Boy_, he mouthed.

Hitomi and Kevin left, leaving the two to themselves. Maria pulled out her cell phone and typed something on it, then passed it to Sean. Sean expected it to be work-related. To his surprised, the text read, "WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEXT MONSTER WILL BE LIKE?"

He rolled his eyes and typed in a response to her. "KNOWING POWER RANGERS, PROBABLY MUSIC-THEMED," his message wrote.

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX :-:-:-:

As if Sean was some reality warper (he's not) Elbeth had a thought while he was working. One of his lieutenants walked into his office and saluted. "What do you need, sir?"

"Do any cyborgs have audio abilities?" Elbeth asked. "Can they use sound as a weapon?"

"Yes, General Elbeth," said the lieutenant.

"Good," said Elbeth, "Contact Headquarters and request one of them."

"Yes, sir!"

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

It was such a relief to get out of those stuffy work clothes. Sean felt much more comfortable and relaxed not to be in a white-collared shirt and khakis, but a red T-shit and cargo shorts. Mei, the robot, was making dinner—an idea that, knowing Futurama, was a bad idea—downstairs. Well, not exactly making dinner, more like starting dinner and then letting Hitomi finish. Out of all the Rangers, she was the one who had any cooking ability.

He left his door open but sat at his laptop and turned on his music. There was a new band he'd discovered, The Cherry Coke$, and they were like a Japanese Flogging Molly. Despite how certain people deride "Cultural Appropriation" (for all the wrong reasons), Sean liked the idea that a Japanese band integrated Celtic and Irish instruments and musical style into their music. He couldn't understand the lyrics, but loved the music.

It should also be noted that, judging by the sticker of a fist smashing a swastika, he hates white supremacists.

In the other room, however, Daisuke was meditating and unfortunately, Sean's loud, fast-paced punk was distracting. He had one too many days where this happened and he snapped. "OI! BAKA!" he shouted, storming over to Sean's room and forcing his way in. "TURN THAT DOWN!"

Sean was so surprised he fell out of his chair. It took him a second to process what was going on before he turned the music up just to spite Daisuke. He added an _akanbe_—basically that anime gesture where someone pulls down their lower eyelid and sticks out their tongue—combined with a middle finger on the other hand to stick it to Daisuke.

Daisuke added something about Sean being a "typical middle-class lout" and walked away. However, Sean couldn't help but feel that… it kinda hurt.

Still, he got back up and decided to take his laptop downstairs.

Kevin had returned from a run through the Todai campus and Maria was sitting on the couch, watching a Brazilian TV show. Mei, of course, was working on dinner while Hitomi watched.

Sean sat down next to Maria and it only took a second before he remembered he couldn't understand Portuguese. "So, um… what's going on here?" he asked.

"Antonio is telling Isabella that they cannot be together because they're in rival gangs," said Maria, "And she's telling him that's bullshit because they support the same club."

"… That's kind of weird."

"This show is weird," said Maria, "But it's good for a laugh."

"Just like Power Rangers," Sean laughed, earning a chuckle from her.

"We've had an entire episode and we still haven't discussed my musical tastes," Kevin muttered. "I like good music!"

"You refused to do the karaoke," Sean remarked.

"That's the worst reason I've ever heard," said Kevin.

"What does he like?" Maria asked.

"Eh, U2, Clancy Brothers, Thin Lizzy… and stuff you'll hear in Dublin on a Friday night," Sean replied.

"Why did you have to answer for me?" Kevin asked.

"I just did," Sean replied.

The conversation was interrupted, and ended, when their little alert system went off. The image screen rose in the countertop and the video of a woman, wearing an Italian flag on her shoulder, spoke. "There is a surge of energy by the Tokyo Dome," she said in an Italian accent. "Nothing has appeared yet, but it resembles teleportation energy."

"We're one our way!" said Sean, "Alright people, _allons-Y_!"

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX :-:-:-:

It took about five minutes for the morphed Rangers to arrive at Tokyo Dome City where a horde of Suitroops was running amok. The Rangers, who'd eschewed the GP Cruiser, ran up to the marauding Suitroops but did not attack. Instead, the Suitroops noticed them and started the fight first.

The Suitroops rushed up to Sean. He stood ready and once they were close enough, he kicked the lead one. They surrounded him, but he kicked them all aside. One rushed in. He ducked and tossed it aside. Another one tried to run in from the same direction. He kicked it. He wound up his fist and punched another one that dented its faceplate. Another tried to throw its arms around his body. He ducked forward, letting the enemy fly into the Suitroops in front of him like they were bowling pins.

Kevin waited for the Suitroops to reach him when he got down to business. He lunged and tackled the first Suitroop that came to him, then threw it to the ground. He stood back up and kicked the next Suitroop and elbowed the one that followed it. He grabbed the collars of two Suitroops and smashed them together. He threw a punch that was blocked, but he followed that up with another punch to the one that blocked him and decapitated that Suitroop with his fist.

Daisuke just slowly advanced on the Suitroops while pointing the Mountain Staff at them. Once they reached him, he went to work, twirling and trusting the staff's blade at them. He whacked the head of one of them with the butt end of his staff, then swung the blade and too it out. He ran and leaped over a few more. When he landed, he spun the staff above his head and sliced them open. One attacked him with its staff. He blocked, then pushed it off and thrust the staff into it.

Maria rolled on the ground and pushed herself up, whereupon she spun on her hands, kicking at the Suitroops until she jumped up, flipped and landed outside the fray. She ran up, punched and kicked at the Suitroops, dancing like a samba, tango and flamenco star, taking them all down with speed, fury and precision. She spun and ducked under a Suitroop's attack and kicked the Suitroop into a crowd of them. Another Suitroop ran up to her. She blocked and countered before tossing it away.

Hitomi cartwheeled through the mass of Suitroops, letting them shoot each other. She stopped, spun and kicked a Suitroop before ducking as an energy staff blast flew right past her head. One of the Suitroops tried to stab her. She grabbed the staff, pulled it down and punched the Suitroop in the visor. She got back up, still holding onto the staff. She reverse-roundhouse kicked the same Suitroop, sending its head flying off, and finished that up by kicking another Suitroop.

Now Sean was freed from the stupid Suitroops and made a bee line for the monster. "LET'S GO, FUCKER!" he shouted. The monster, if it could be called that, was a robot with two large speakers attached to its shoulders. Sean SHOULD have figured that this was not a good idea, but found out the hard way when the robot began blasting a horrible sound from those speakers.

The sound, blasted at an incredibly high pitch AND volume, was painful on the Rangers' ears, forcing them to cover their ears. Then the noise stopped. The monster collided with Sean first, sending him flying into the crowd of his teammates. The monster kept going, smacking them aside without so much as breaking a sweat (can toku monsters even break a sweat?).

The monster turned around. The Rangers got back up. Daisuke rushed the monster at full speed and head-on. The monster blared its music at Daisuke. The Green Ranger fell to the ground, frantically covering his ears. The blow to his chest and head knocked him to the ground.

The monster reached down and grabbed Daisuke by the collar. He tossed him afar, where he crashed into the doors of the Dome.

But it also left him open for Sean to rabbit-punch him.

The monster growled at Sean's dirty punch. It reached up, grabbed Sean and slammed him into the pavement. Kevin pounced on the monster, lifted him up and threw him to the ground, but the monster landed on both feet. That meant it could counter with his own throw.

The monster turned to Sean lying prone on the ground. It was just about to attack when Maria stepped between the two. The monster could not react in time to Maria's hard punch to his jaw. Sean watched with a slight smile. "She's good," he said. He got up and ran around the monster. As the monster tried to knock her down, he kicked it hard in the side to knock it away. When Maria was visible, he gave her a thumb's up. She smiled too, and responded with one of her own.

But the monster wasn't done. He seemed to remember his ability after possibly forgetting about it and let loose another pulse of noise that cause severe pain in the Rangers' ears. When they were down, he took off.

"DAMMIT!" Sean pounded the pavement.

"Another failure," said Daisuke.

"SHUT UP, RICH BOY!"

"Will the both of you cut it out?" Maria asked. "You sound like a pair of fighting band mem—"

"That's it!" Sean interrupted.

"That's what?" Sean asked.

"I have an idea," he said.

"I'm listening," she said while impressed.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

The monster continued to wreak havoc across the district. Glass broke, plaster crumbled and steel bent. People ran from all of this carnage and destruction. The monster was almost drunk on its own power as it cackled all while making a mess of things. The Rangers were nowhere to be found so why the fuck should he care?

Well, at the same time, the Rangers had gotten the Grand Prix Cruiser and some big speakers. Rented the speakers from an electronics store that had not yet been touched by the monster's destruction. Hitomi and Daisuke had de-morphed to get this done.

"Are you sure this will work?" Maria asked, lowering her head down from the roof of the H2 at Sean in the driver's seat. She pulled up before Sean could answer back, but he climbed out of the SUV and held onto the roof.

"I never guaranteed it!" he replied. "I'm making this up as I go along!"

"I thought you were the strategist!" she replied.

"Again, I never said that!"

"Will you two cease this meaningless lover's quarrel!?" Kevin hissed while he pulled some wires out.

"_We're not lovers!_" they both shouted in unison.

"What?" Hitomi asked.

"Nothing, just teasing them," said Kevin. "Right, so you know the rest of the plan, right?"

"Yeah," said Sean. "Someone needs to lure the monster over to us. And then—"

"We will not have to worry about that," Daisuke said as he pointed at another street to the monster coming their way.

"SHIT!" Sean hissed. He got back in the driver's seat and fumbled with his iPhone to hook it up. Once it was hooked up, he realized just how big a music library he had when he couldn't find anything to use.

"HURRY UP!" Kevin shouted. However, he muttered something and jumped down. He grabbed the iPhone from Sean, removed his glove and pressed the shuffle function on it.

The sound of soft, melodic acoustic guitars started playing out of the speakers. The other Rangers looked around, first at each other, then at Sean, who shrugged. Daisuke shook his head and facepalmed, muttering something about how he was going to die because the Red Ranger was an idiot. Even the monster was confused, until he realized he had the Rangers right where he wanted them, so he charged right at them.

They got ready to defend when the music changed, replacing the acoustic guitars with loud electric guitars that changed to a heavy, thrash metal riff. The opening of the Metallica classic "Battery". As Sean headbanged to the music, the monster screamed and put his hands up to his ears as if either in pain, hatred of the music, or a bit of both.

"HOWDOYA LIKE THAT!?" Sean cackled. "FUCK YA! NOW GET 'IM!"

Hitomi leaped on top of the Cruiser, jumped through the air and tackled the monster to the ground. Maria followed seconds later, taking her Haz Daggers and stabbing the monster's speakers. Sparks erupted from the speakers, but Maria got out of the way in time to not suffer any damage. The monster angrily shoved the female Rangers off of him, got back up and seethed at the damage they had caused.

"Do you have any idea what you have DONE!?" he shouted. "I WENT THROUGH MONTHS OF MODIFICATIONS TO HAVE THOSE SPEAKERS INSTALLED!"

"TOO BAD!" Sean called. "Let's GET 'IM!"

The Rangers leaped off of the Cruiser to attack. Daisuke went first, kicking the monster's head, then danced out of the way to knee his side. Kevin followed up by kicking the monster's chest. The monster backhanded a counter. Kevin avoided it. He kicked the monster again. Maria and Hitomi leaped off of Kevin and Daisuke's shoulders, swinging their GP Swords at the monster, then kicking him at the same time. Sean was last, as he ran up, punched the monster with furious speed, then wound up his leg and reverse roundhouse kicked the monster away.

The crowd that had gathered cheered as the monster barrel rolled off to the side. The Rangers grabbed their blaster and shot him with two volleys.

"TIME TO END THIS!" Sean declared. "NITRO CANNON!"

The cannon materialized in the Rangers' hands. "READY! AIM!" The cannon locked on to the monster.

"_FIRE!_"

Sean pulled the trigger. The monster couldn't do anything against the blast of energy that struck him. He collapsed and exploded. The crowd cheered even louder.

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX :-:-:-:

Ragnar turned the screen off before looking up at Elbeth. Despite the obvious implications of the Commander's glare, he didn't so much as blink. In fact, he was still rather confident. "I wonder how you can be so confident, Elbeth," said Ragnar.

"A simple minor setback," said Elbeth. "I have begun to plant the seeds of doubt in the Green Ranger's mind."

"Did you?" Ragnar asked, "Or are you lying to—forget it. I apologize for getting impatient with you. However, I would rather see a mercenary who does not lose their cool at the sound of human music."

"Understood, Commander," said Elbeth.

:-:-:-: PRGPX :-:-:-:

Flamenco music played from Maria's iPod speakers while she played with her 3DS as she sat on her bed. Hitomi was at the eMac, drawing something with her computer drawing pad. Her music played from her eMac. The combined J-Pop and Flamenco sounded… interesting. And it made Maria bob her head.

"Has anyone tried this crossover?" she asked.

"I don't know," Hitomi said without looking up from her drawing pad.

"This needs to happen," said Maria. "Latin and Japanese music sound like they'd be well-fit."

Hitomi was about to speak when Sean and Daisuke approached, with their conversation getting pretty loud. "… Still better than that old-person's nostalgia crap you listen to!" Sean teased.

"It is called 'enka'," said Daisuke. "And it has more musical merit than your trash."

"It's Metallica!" Sean replied.

"Will you two shut up and respect each other's' taste!?" Maria snapped.

"Is that was this episode was about?" Sean asked. "Oh, right, I forgot about that. Eh, whatever."

"Sometimes, I wonder why I have to take orders from an idiot like you," Daisuke muttered.

"I'm not an idiot!" Sean replied. "I got into the University of Wisconsin—"

"That does not matter," said Daisuke.

"Why don't you shut up, Rich Boy?" Maria replied, much to Sean's surprise. "The music thing was his idea! Even if it was poorly-planned and he got lucky, it was a good idea."

"Why thank you!" Sean replied. Daisuke huffed, puffed and left. After watching him pass, Sean stole an admiring glance at Maria before leaving. She too got an admiring glance at him.

:-:-:-: Power Rangers GPX :-:-:-:

End chapter


End file.
